


His Own Little Corner

by Ihavepowers



Category: Monster Prom (Visual Novel)
Genre: Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Human/Monster Society, Light Swearing, M/M, Mostly Gen, Other Characters Are Mentioned, Oz Goes by He/His, Romantic Comedy, Romantic Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:14:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 27,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25150714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ihavepowers/pseuds/Ihavepowers
Summary: Oz and Scott sit together under the large oak tree behind the school, learning more about each other as each day passes.A.K.A. Scott Howl interrupts Oz’s “me time”, leaving Oz no choice but to make room for a large, kind-hearted werewolf in his life.
Relationships: Scott Howl/Yellow | Oz
Comments: 30
Kudos: 102





	1. The Oak Tree

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Monster Prom is owned by Beautiful Glitch and published by Those Awesome Guys. I take no credit for any characters or settings used in this story.

After multiple years of being a student at Spooky High, Oz developed a daily routine of sorts. Going to class, bitcoin farming in the library, and even bathroom breaks all came down to a meticulous routine. Sometimes there was an event or two that would add some spice to the day, such as an encounter with a drunk Polly or having to evacuate a room Damien set on fire. But for the most part, Oz figured out his everyday schedule pretty well.

After spending time with Vicky in the auditorium, going to the library to “study” (play video games) with Brian, and having an epic dodgeball match with Amira, Oz’s favorite part of the day was always the end, when school was over.

When the final bell rang to signal it was time for the monsters of Spooky High to head home, the signal meant to Oz that he got time for himself. Sure, Oz loved spending time with his friends, but he could only spend SO much time with them before he got worn out. Although he was trying to get out of his shell more, he was still an introvert at heart; he needed some space for himself to collect his thoughts and unwind.

That’s when Oz found solace by the large tree in the outdoor section of the school.

During the school day, relaxing by the tree would be nigh impossible, as it was a popular hangout spot for monsters to let loose and throw wicked parties. After school, however, the area was practically empty, as most students chose to head off campus as soon as possible instead of sticking around. Oz loved the outdoors, but he was less fond of sharing it with thirty-or-so other students dancing and partying around him. Sure, Oz liked the occasional dance party, but doing so more than once a week would just wear him out into social exhaustion. During most days after school, Oz would have time to be by himself with nothing but the evening breeze to keep him company. He would lean up against the large oak tree after a long day of classes and close encounters with death so he could have some peace and quiet. There was a little corner with the perfect amount of shade that Oz claimed as his own little corner. Sometimes he would read their, sometimes he would play a game on his Switch, sometimes he would just rest his eyes and drift off for a little bit, but most of the time he would sit and stare at the sky to be alone with his thoughts.

There he was, watching the evening sky while his phobias came out of his body to stretch and wake up. The phobias could almost be considered extra limbs, but instead of just grabbing things, they had the freedom of thought. This allowed them to do things such as chug beers and whisper archaic curses in ancient languages long forgotten over time.

You know, typical limb things.

The phobia on Oz’s left shoulder was leaning its little head on Oz’s cheek, watching the sky alongside the boy, while a pair on his right arm played a game of Go Fish using tiny cards that fit in their tiny hands.

Oz lifted his hands behind his back, closed his eyes, and thought, _How lucky am I to have my own corner I can relax in when I go to a school full of wacky monsters?_

_Thunk._

Oz’s eyes shot wide open as he felt a sudden weight in his lap. Phobias shot up all around his body in shock at the sudden weight. Oz looked down to see a football that found itself landing right on top of the fear entity's crossed legs.

_The Hell...?_ Oz thought as he lifted the ball into his hands. The phobias recovered from the shock and reverted back inside Oz’s body. There was no other monster in sight, and Oz didn’t recall the Oak tree growing football-fruits and dropping them on unsuspecting victims, so where could this ball have come from?

“Hey Bro! Over here!”

Oz looked up, seeing a large, smiling werewolf bounding towards him.

Ever since Oz first met Scott Howl, the guy had always been an enigma of sorts. After watching the students of Spooky High from the shadows for so many years, Oz felt he had a pretty good understanding of all of the monsters he called his classmates. Miranda was sweet, albeit a little naïve, but her immature behavior was clearly due to a sheltered life as a princess with serfs who did everything for her. Damien was hot-headed and aggressive, but Oz could recall plenty of times were the demon would show his more tender side. Liam hated everything mainstream, but reading between the lines would show he actually had a bit of a nerdy side that Oz could relate to. Oz admired Polly a lot. After letting her drag him to parties a few times, Oz came to realize that the only things Polly loved more than drugs and PRANKZ were the friends she got to share them with. Vera was tricky to decipher, but after hearing about the gorgon’s past as an orphan, it was clear to Oz that Vera was closed-off only because she didn’t want to waste her time with petty school drama and friendships that likely wouldn’t last past graduation.

So yes, to say Oz was observant (borderline stalkerish) would be accurate, but no matter how many times he tried, Scott was someone who Oz could never fully understand.

By now, Scott had skidded to a halt beside the still-sitting fear monster. Oz noticed the werewolf was in his green football jersey.

“Sorry about that Oz… I went for a catch from one of my pack mates, but he accidentally threw the ball a couple hundred yards too far, so it flew all the way over here. Good catch by the way, bro!”

“Thank you?” Oz said as he reached the ball up to give to the werewolf. He took note that if werewolves could “accidentally” throw footballs two-hundred yards too far, then they were much stronger monsters than Oz initially thought.

Scott happily took the football and held it under his arm, “So, whatcha doing, buddy?”

Oz watched as Scott plopped himself down beside the shadowy monster. Oz never really recalled inviting Scott to join him, but how could he ever tell such a good boy to go away? He simply couldn't, even if this spot under the tree was HIS secret hideout.

“Oh… well… you know. Just hanging out, looking at the clouds.”

“I love clouds!”

_I know._ Oz thought to himself, recalling the many times in class where Scott would stare through the window to watch the clouds while the teacher lectured about boring concepts that were hundreds of years outdated.

“Yeah, it’s nice just looking at the sky. It’s kind of hard to do during the day, what with all of the monsters who like to hang out back here, so I spend time out here most days after school.” Said Oz.

“By yourself?”

Oz shrugged his shoulders, “Well, usually… but it’s not like I’m by myself right now, right?”

Scott stared at Oz with a puzzled look on his face, which meant he was deep in thought. The latter, feeling nervous with those bright blue eyes pouring into his white, vacant ones, turned his head away, chuckling awkwardly to himself.

“I mean, I guess I just like having time to myself. During the day I’m always hanging out with Vicky, Amira, Brian and sometimes Polly and Zoe. I like them a lot of course! But you know, they are also pretty wild at times. Well I guess Brian isn’t as crazy, but I’m sure you knew that because you guys are teammates and well-“ Oz realized he was rambling when a phobia popped out of his shoulder to slap a hand over his mouth so he would shut up.

Scott, either not picking up on the tension or choosing to ignore it, just grinned as his tail wagged back and forth behind him. “Yeah bro! Our friends are great. But it’s nice having chill people like you, Brian, and even Liam. I like how you guys are always calm, even when you have to do things that are difficult like recite lines during the play or pay attention in class. I suck at doing that stuff, but you guys make it look so easy.”

Oz felt his face flush at the compliment and scratched the back of his head. “Thanks, I guess I like to _try_ and stay relaxed.”

Oz felt the words slip out before he could even think about what he was saying. Something about Scott was just naturally warm and inviting. The guy gave off that vibe where even if you said something that was weird or stupid, he wouldn’t make fun of you for it. In fact, Scott would probably agree with anything Oz said as long as it didn’t have anything to do with math or words that were longer than four-syllables.

Scott and Oz sat there silently for a while, chatting briefly but mainly letting their eyes wander among the clouds. Scott normally wasn’t one to sit in awkward silence, but with Oz, the quietness wasn’t uncomfortable at all. In fact, it was somewhat soothing. Scott let his head drop to his side sleepily as his eyes landed on the football that was by his side.

The monster immediately snapped out of his daze and jumped to his feet. “Augh! I totally forgot! My teammates are waiting for me! Sorry bro, I wish I could hangout, but I need to get back to the field. Bye!”

Before Oz could respond, the wolf-man sprinted off towards the stadium, leaving the fear-being alone once again. Oz sighed, feeling briefly upset he lost time to get to know Scott, but appreciating that he could get back to his solo time. Oz leaned back against the tree to unwind once more, but felt a tiny hand tapping his upper arm which snapped him out of it. He looked down at his right arm to see a phobia pointing at the gold watch on his wrist. Oz lifted the watch up to his face, finally noticing two hours had already passed since he first sat down against the tree. He would normally spend an hour at best hanging out behind the school, but he apparently lost track of time when Scott showed up.

“Guess I should head home for today.” Oz said to himself as he got up, stretching his arms. The boy didn’t feel too upset about missing out on most of his personal time, as it turns out Scott could be pretty relaxing to be near when he wasn’t shoveling pizza down his throat or pulling pranks on unwary monsters. Oz made his way to the front of the school so he could head home. He would need to get back soon if he wanted enough time to eat, study, browse through some forums, and then have time to sleep before the next day.

Off he went, walking with an extra skip in his step as he left the campus grounds.

-

The following day went by relatively fast. Oz seemed to be lucky in that he wasn’t involved in any incidents involving Damien’s pyromania or Vera’s attempts at swindling students into a pyramid scheme for skin ointment (her method of persuasion involved hitting people with a baseball bat covered in poison ivy until they signed up).

During lunch, he had some time to read through Zoe’s latest Naruto x Garfield fan fiction and gave her some feedback on what he thought. Oz wasn’t one to dabble in fanfiction himself, but he was always a literature nerd at heart, and was happy to give the eldritch girl a bit of constructive criticism. Afterwards, The two reminisced about “the good old days” when they used to be divine beings with limitless power and physical forms incomprehensible to the mere mortal eye. Fun stuff!

In between classes, Oz, Amira, Brian and Vicky always made an effort to meet up when they could. The four had become great friends ever since they all first met. They weren’t cliquey in the sense that they closed themselves off from the rest of the school, as all four of them had their own lives outside of each other. But anyone with more than one eye could tell they were a close knit group.

On this day in particular, the group decided to meet in the library during Oz’s normal bitcoin mining hour. Instead of mining like he normally would, Oz decided to switch his day up a bit by joining his friends in a computer game they were playing. Under normal circumstances, Oz was very focused when playing video games. Sure, Amira was a boss at fighting games, Brian was uncontested in first-person shooters, and Vicky was the master RPG player, but Oz always felt he was all-around a pretty good gamer. Today, however, his mind wasn’t in it as much as it should be. His thoughts seemed to be wandering towards Scott Howl all day. Oz couldn’t quite put his finger on why his mind kept coming back to Scott over and over again. Sure, he thought the guy was nice, but it’s not like he LIKED him or anything. Heck, he didn’t even know much about him outside of the fact that he is a bro-athlete who occasionally goes through wolf-transformations and terrorizes small villages.

“Yo, Ozzy.” Amira said, nudging Oz’s shoulder at the computer beside him. “Your turn.”

“Ah! M-my bad.” Oz replied, clicking on a green UNO card to place into the center pile. Currently, the quartet was playing a game of online UNO through the computers. Vicky and Brian were already down to four cards each, while Amira had five and Oz had a whopping eight.

Oz could tell his friends were picking up on his wandering mind, but they likely chose not to say anything out of respect for his privacy. The game went on for a few more turns before Oz randomly turned to his right and looked at Brian.

“Hey man, what do you think of Scott?” Oz blurted out. He wasn’t sure where that random burst of curiosity came from. Perhaps Polly’s boldness had been rubbing off on him lately.

“Scott? …he’s cool. Why?” The zombie replied, putting a yellow UNO REVERSE CARD into the pile that forced Oz to go again.

“I-I dunno… just asking.”

“Scott’s the coolest!” Vicky said from the other side of Brian. “Have you noticed how he’s always bringing out the best in everyone? Since I first met him, he’s made Liam less grumpy and Miranda less genocidal, even if by just a little!”

Amira also spoke up, “Scott’s my dude! I didn’t know you two were close, Oz?”

Oz shrugged his shoulders, letting a phobia sprout off his hand and take control of the game for him, “Well… I wouldn’t say him and I are close. I was just wondering what you thought of him, Brian. Seeing as you guys are teammates and all.”

Brian mumbled something Oz didn't quite pick up. The zombie was clearly losing interest in talking about Scott and just wanted to get the game over with. He managed to break ahead and get down to one card left, while the others still had larger decks they had to deal with.

Contradicting Brian’s interest in the game, Oz could care less about UNO and felt more curious about Scott Howl, even more than before. His friends speaking so positively about the werewolf confirmed a theory he had that literally EVERYONE was fond of Scott. Of course, there was probably an outlier or two, but for the most part, monsters of all kinds have nothing but positive things to say about the good boy of Spooky High.

The UNO game finished in a blur, as did the rest of Oz’s day. When the school day ended, the fear-entity retreated to his little corner under the oak tree as he does every day. Today, he brought a pair of ear buds with him and made sure his phone was fully charged. Earlier in the day, Calculester went around the school telling everyone to listen to a new lowfi hip hop song he just released on Spotify. Oz thought Cal was just the most superb robot-bro he’s ever met, so there was no way he was going to turn down listening to the song the robot made: Xx_HardDrive_69_Twerk_Anthem_xX. Oz made a mental note to one day tell the computer a different name might be more suitable for a chill hip hop beat.

Oz sat down at his corner of the tree, plugged in his ear buds, and bobbed his head to the beats. He closed his eyes so he could better appreciate the chill vibes of the song.

Oz remained in that position for a few moments, opening his eyes at one moment to check the time. When he did open his eyes, he was shocked to see a certain werewolf-boy crouched in front of him, tail wagging behind him.

“Hey bro!”

“GAAAAAHHHHH!” The startled Oz hollered in response. A few of the phobias that occupy his body popped out in various places. Some had surprised faces, one actually looked quite pleased to see Scott, and the other kicked into its fight vs. flight mode by brandishing a tiny knife it pulled out from behind its back.

After collecting himself from the surprising arrival, Oz paused the music and pulled out the ear buds. “H-Hi Scott.”

“Hahaha! Sorry to scare you!” Scott said, chuckling slightly at the display he just witnessed.

“Y-you’re f-fine…” Oz breathed out.

Scott just continued to stare at the fearful fearling. Oz could hear the wearwolf's tail wag gently behind him.

_Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh. Swoosh._

“So…uh…” Oz coughed into his fist, “What are you doing here? Don’t you have practice?” Oz took notice that Scott was wearing his trademark varsity jacket instead of the Spooky High jersey he wore yesterday.

“Nope, no practice! Coach had to cancel today because he has a dentist appointment. I feel bad for him. Ugh, I hate my dentist, she always makes a big deal of saying ‘Oh my! What big teeth you have!’ Like, no duh lady, of course my teeth are big, they're fangs!”

Oz just stared blankly as the werewolf explained why proper hygiene is important for avoiding the dentist as much as possible.

“I see. Well that’s nice that you’re free from practice today.” Said Oz.

“Yeah bro! Technically, I’m always free from practice, but I still go anyway. Coach doesn’t make any of the meets required. He says it’s okay if we want to use practice time for ourselves because we don’t actually have any drills we go over. We don’t even plan for strategies during our games; Coach just slaps our butts and tells us to run over anyone who gets in our way."

Oz nodded his head. He realized it actually made sense practices weren’t mandatory. For as long as Oz knew Brian, he actually couldn’t recall the zombie mentioning anything about practice, which was likely because Brian couldn’t be bothered to go to them in the first place.

“Anyways bro, what are these?” Scott asked, pointing a finger at one of the phobias that continued to sit on Oz’s shoulder.

“Oh these? They're my phobias. They do stuff for me.”

“Aww, little friends…” Scott cooed as he leaned in, poking the tiny head of the black blob on his shoulder. The phobia wasn’t fond of getting its face pushed by a giant finger, but it chose to take one for the team because it knew Oz was secretly enjoying the attention.

“I mean, I guess they are my friends, but it’s a little more complicated than that.” Replied the smaller monster. Oz prepared to explain to Scott that these phobias were actually the physical manifestations of Oz’s thoughts and powers. They were more Oz’s consciousness not unique, independent beings. Oz pretty much had full control over them so they were basically extensions of his body. They helped Oz control fear, and even though Oz forbids himself from using his powers on anybody, they still help him with daily tasks and they also give him somebody to talk to, even if they don’t respond. Before Oz went on to explain all of this to Scott however, he realized all of that would probably just go over the wolf-boy’s head.

“Actually, you know what? They are my friends! They help me do chores.”

Scott sat up straight, clapping his hands together as a light bulb went off in his head. “Of course! That makes so much sense! Wow Oz, I never knew you had this cool magic trick where you could make little friends. How many magic tricks can you do?”

“Well… what’s the highest number you can count up to?”

“On a normal day? Like twenty-seven. But one time, Liam told me I counted all the way up to four thousand five hundred and eight after I ate a blue mushroom Polly gave me.”

“Oh, wow... well... umm, I can definitely do more than twenty-seven magic tricks, but I don’t think I can go all the way up to four thousand five hundred and eight.”

“Wow! Well that’s still a lot, bro!”

In terms of all of the things Oz could do, he wouldn’t call his powers “magic tricks” as much as he would call it straight-up arcane abilities. But since Oz prohibited himself from using his fear-based skills to cast torment and nightmares across the monsters of this dimension, the most he WOULD do probably could be described as “magic tricks”, so it would do. Along with the before mentioned fear-apocalypse, Oz also knew that if he revealed his powers, Vera would likely try to take advantage of his true nature so she could better get information out of her hostages. After all, what better way to get someone to talk than by plaguing their mind with a thousand of their worst fears?

While Oz thought about a new potential career as a magician with “magic tricks” for little kids birthday parties, Scott completely forgot all about the phobias and took notice of the earbuds in the boy’s hands.

“Ooh, what were you listening to?”

“Huh…? Oh! Right! These.” Oz said as he remembered he was still clutching the buds in his hand. “Calculester made a new song today. I was listening to that.”

“Aww! Cal is the coolest!” Scott grinned brightly, “Did you know it was me and Damien who brought him to life?”

Oz just nodded his head, laughing softly to himself. He knew it was actually Vicky’s hacking skills (with Scott and Damien cheering her on in support) that brought life to the robot, but Oz chose not to correct him.

“Sure thing Scott. Anyways, it’s actually got a great beat to it.”

“What’s it called?”

“Xx_HardDrive_69_Twerk_Anthem_xX.”

“That’s a dope name!”

“I guess so.” Oz felt pretty silly saying that name out loud, but if Scott liked it, then maybe he wouldn’t tell Calculester to change it after all.

Oz scooted to his left and patted the ground beside him, “You can sit and listen with me... I mean, if you want, that is.”

Scott agreed happily, shifting to take the open spot. Oz handed him the left earbud and placed the right one in his respective ear. When Scott put it in, Oz pulled out his phone and hit play on the song. The two sat there for a moment, enjoying the relaxing music.

It had occurred to Oz that Scott was here beside him on purpose. SCOTT HOWL, one of the most popular and well-liked students of Spooky High, was sitting right next to him. Instead of using his day off from practice to go home or hang out with one of his other friends, Scott chose to come to the large oak tree behind the school, knowing Oz would be there. He felt his cheeks grow warm out of flattery. It felt nice, Oz thought, being the first choice for someone to hang out with. Especially Scott Howl of all people. Oz took the time he never really took before to appreciate the werewolf sitting beside him. His personality was infectious; Vicky was right when she said Scott brings out the best in everyone. He was goofy, and very kind. Oz never realized before how much he admired Scott’s positivity. And of course, Oz couldn’t help but appreciate the werewolf’s looks. Spooky High was notorious for having a wide variety of attractive students, but Oz never really took the time to appreciate Scott in particular until now. He had a rugged, but handsome face. He was tall, and he was in great shape too. But what made everything about him so endearing was the fact that he was humble. Whether Scott just played dumb or was genuinely too dumb to realize he was attractive, Scott was never one to play up his looks for attention.

Oz snapped back into reality, realizing he was staring right at the oblivious werewolf sitting next to him.

Scott, feeling a pair of white, hollow eyes on him, turned to look at the boy beside him, their faces only a few inches apart.

“Hm? Did you say something?” He asked quietly.

In a state of embarrassment, Oz leaned his head back and quickly thought of something to say so he didn’t have to admit he was checking him out.

“U-uh Uh… I asked- I asked what you thought about the song?

“HUH?” Scott asked loudly, clearly not hearing what Oz said over the music and not being the best at reading lips.

“What do you think of the song, Scott?”

“WHAT’D YOU SAY, BRO?”

Oz couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “Never mind.” He said between gasps of breath. He patted the larger boy’s arm a couple of times in reassurance.

Perhaps Scott wasn’t as complex to read as Oz initially thought. The werewolf seemed to fall in line somewhere between innocence and just plain, genuine happiness. Oz thought about Scott’s laugh, and how every time he spoke, he took control of the room not through power or authority, but by sincerity and kindness. Oz was certain there wasn’t a bad bone in his body, and any bad bones Scott did have would have been buried in the ground long ago. The werewolf just gravitated towards good people, he seemed to have a natural ability to sniff out monsters he likes from a mile away. Similarly, people gravitated towards Scott. Oz recalled the fact that after just one evening of hanging out with him, he was all that the fear-being could think about for the entire next day.

Oz felt pride surge in his gut upon realizing that maybe he was one of the monsters Scott chose to have in his pack (not his wolf pack, obviously, but like his friend pack).

The two enjoyed each other’s company in the little corner under the oak tree as the sun set over the horizon.


	2. Conflict

After years of being a student at Spooky High, Scott Howl liked to live his life as spontaneously as possible. He chose not to follow the rulebook (mostly because he never read it), so his actions were driven by whatever he wished to do in the moment.

Of course, he had his habits like every other monster, but they were few and far between. He made an effort to train his _Pokeman’s_ at least once a day, and he always made sure to go for a jog outside. Besides these occasional routines, Scott found no two days being too similar to each other during his time at Spooky High.

Recently, however, he found himself developing a new daily tradition.

He realized he was developing this new habit on the third day he wandered behind the school after the final bell. Normally, he would race to the stadium for his non-mandatory football practice, but sports had become less necessary in his life since he made this new tradition.

Scott Howl developed a habit of going to visit Oz behind the school every day.

At first, Oz was very confused and suspicious of the werewolf’s constant arrival. When he questioned why the athlete was choosing not to go to his practices anymore, Scott would shrug his shoulders, saying something along the lines of: “I’m not feeling up for it today.”

As dumbstruck as the fear-monster was at the presence of the werewolf, he chose not to question it much. He was actually getting pretty used to having Scott visit him during his “me time”. Thus, it became a habit that the two would hang out together in the corner of the oak tree that became their own little spot.

When Scott first met Oz, many years prior, he didn’t think much of him. Oz was nice, the werewolf thought, and he seemed funny, but he was also pretty closed-off, so Scott just assumed that any attempts at making friends with the monster would result in just irritating him. When he did find himself having a full conversation with Oz, (on the day he went to go fetch the football that landed in his lap), he pretty instantly felt fondness for the monster. Scott came around to appreciate many things about him. He was a little shy, especially when talking about his nerdy habits, but the two bonded well over their shared interest in video games and superhero comics. Oz loved being outside, not as much as Scott of course, but he explained that one of his favorite hobbies was cloud watching and looking out for constellations when it got dark out. The fear monster that used to seem withdrawn was actually just timid about sharing his interests, choosing only to open up to a select few monsters at the school.

Scott’s admiration for his new friend almost became borderline infatuation.

Scott loved all of his friends, everyone knew that. Whether they were the fiery Damien or the snarky Liam, Scott was a natural at finding shared interests with the monsters in his social group. Even then, Oz grew to be one of his favorites after just a few short days of really getting to know him.

“Oh! That’s a squirrel!” Scott yelled excitedly.

Oz, who was laying on the grass beside him, chuckled slightly and rolled his eyes, “You say every cloud looks like a squirrel…”

“No bro. Like literally, there’s a squirrel right there. See?” Scott replied, pointing a finger up to one of the branches of the tree. Oz squinted his eyes, but sure enough, there was a tiny, bushy tailed rodent scurrying along one of the tree branches above him.

“Oh! I see it, wow, you’re good at finding small things.”

“What can I say, bro?” Scott turned his head to the side and stuck out his tongue, “dogs have great vision.”

Oz smirked. Perhaps Scott just had a squirrel-radar in his brain to help him detect fuzzy critters within a mile-wide radius.

The fear entity sat up after some time, checking his watch. “Ah, It’s getting late… I should probably get going, Scott.”

“Aww what? Already bro?” Scott pouted.

Oz smiled down at the guy and patted his shoulder a couple times, “Sorry Scott. I promised I would meet Vicky and the others downtown for dinner. They’re probably already there by now.”

Scott nodded his head. He knew Oz, Vicky, Brian and Amira spent a lot of time together. Scott stood up and rubbed his neck. “Thanks for letting me hang out. I-I mean, you know, like always, but I have fun! So… uhh… yeah, thanks bro!” Scott wasn’t sure why it felt so awkward to be this sincere with his friend. He suddenly felt nervous about saying something stupid and making himself look like a fool.

“Oh… uhh… of course! No problem”

The two headed off in their own directions. Oz took a bus to head downtown while Scott got in his car to head home.

Upon arriving home, getting questioned by his wolf pack as to why he missed ANOTHER day of practice, and then having his cheeks pinched by Grandma Howl, Scott locked himself in his room. After so many days of hanging out with Oz, his pack was starting to get a little suspicious about Scott’s recent change of behavior. He was as chipper as he normally was, but also tended to space out more than usual. Every time Scott tried to talk about Oz, and how much he liked being around him, his family would almost immediately loose interest in what he was saying and choose to get into wrestling matches or chase their tails. Scott eventually gave up on trying to explain that his developing friendship with the fear monster was behind his absence at practice.

Scott Howl wasn’t normally one to develop “crushes”. He naturally liked being around people. However, he kept a majority of the monsters in his life in the friend-territory and never strayed far into the romance-zone. Scott didn’t FEEL like he was falling for Oz or anything, but he found that he wouldn’t MIND if it went to that level. Grandma Howl liked to tease Scott about bringing new pack members into the family, but she was also pretty progressive, and knew that Scott didn’t need to fall in love with a fellow werewolf, or fall in love with anyone for that matter, as long as he was happy.

That was the thing though, Scott wasn’t even trying to fall in love with anyone. He always thought he would have a couple hundred years before he would have to worry about finding some monster to ask to be his mate.

However, it seemed almost natural for Scott to want to at least TRY with Oz. He felt too nervous to try though. He caught himself staring into the fear-being’s eyes often and felt it was increasingly difficult to keep his hands off of him as each day passed. The thought of the timid Oz getting uncomfortable with Scott and asking him to give him his space was something that kept Scott up at night. Not only was he struggling with figuring out if he was falling for the boy, but he was struggling with figuring out if Oz would be WILLING to open his heart up in return.

“All this thinking is giving me a headache…” Scott mumbled to himself, burying his head in his pillow.

-

The next day at school, Scott noticed that something was VERY wrong at Spooky High.

Everyone walked through the halls with their spines (or whatever they had) stiffened up straight. They kept an eye out everywhere they went, fearing something bad might happen. Monsters all around the school were suddenly too nervous to do things that they’ve done thousands of times before. In the bathroom, Polly spit up a pill that she swallowed, suddenly fearing the consequences of taking ten Ecstasy pills in the span of five minutes. Miranda went to class with her serfs forming a barrier around her; fearing that an assassin would strike her down at any moment. Vera felt a random burst of nervousness as she talked on the phone with a wealthy client, nearly ruining their business deal. Damien developed a strange, sudden fear of fire as he stood around a circle of books he finished dumping gasoline on, thus ruining a perfectly good stack of books without actually getting to watch them burn. Liam was so afraid of the idea of becoming “popular” that he walked into school wearing a trench coat and fedora to make sure nobody would recognize him. Zoe spontaneously deleted all of the work she put into her “Dahlia x Valerie” fan fiction, suddenly fearing that her fans would hate how the story was progressing. Even Calculester was at unease the whole day, choosing to download safeguards in his programming to make sure he doesn’t get hacked by a virus.

Every monster in Spooky High was riddled with anxiety.

Even Scott felt more distressed than usual, and Scott was never one to worry about the small things. Not to mention, Scott hadn’t seen Oz all day. He wasn’t in class, nor was he anywhere else in the school. Scott was itching for the day to end as fast as possible so he could check the spot by the oak tree and see if he was there. If Scott didn’t find him there, he wasn’t sure what he would do.

At lunch, Scott sat down with Polly while monsters all around them nervously plucked at their food.

“Listen, Scott…” Polly said at lunch, sighing into her palm, “I’m having second thoughts about PRANK MASTERZ. I’m scared that all of these pranks are starting to make us emotionally null to the pain of others, ya know?”

“What are you talking about, Polly!?” Scott asked, slamming his hands on the table. “You’ve never been scared of pulling pranks until now. What’s gotten into you? In fact, what’s gotten into EVERYONE? Why is everyone too scared to do anything all of a sudden?”

Polly’s light blue eyes widened in realization, “You know what, now that you mention it, everyone HAS been super on edge today. I saw the Coven earlier today, they said they were disbanding because they were too afraid of dying during battle. But they've never been afraid of dying before and death is LITERALLY the best thing that could ever happen to someone. Trust me.”

_Afraid. Scared. Worried. Anxiety. Nervous._

These were words that every monster in Spooky High was using to describe their moods today. Scott furrowed his eyebrows, he was on to something, he just couldn’t quite figure out what.

“Polly… what does all of this have in common?”

“What do you mean?”

Scott waved his arms around him, gesturing to the monsters who were too scared to eat out of fear of choking or getting poisoned, “I mean, look around you, bro! Every monster you look at is too scared to do things they normally do. Isn't that weird?”

Polly slammed her fist into her palm, “Oh, yeah I guess you’re right! Who knows though? It’s probably just because everyone now has a fear of coming to school or something. So now that they're here, it’s like they are just too scared all the time!” Polly nodded her head, determined that this was the explanation. “Wow Scott! Who knew you could put two and two together like this, have you considered becoming a psychologist?”

As Polly explained how her psychologist is great for giving her party ideas, Scott rubbed his temple, playing a word in his head over and over again.

_Fear._

_Fear._

_Feeeeeaaaaarrrr._

“Polly, say that ‘F’ word again for me.”

“Fuck?”

“No! Not that one! The one you said before.”

“Oh, haha, my bad! You mean fear?”

_Fear… fear… feeeeeeaaaaarrrr…_

“Scott, quit scrunching your face like that, it’s freaking me out.”

Scott had a lightbulb go off in his head, “Polly, does fear mean the same thing as ‘scared’ and ‘worried’ and all of those other big words people keep saying all day!?”

She nodded her head, finally accepting that Scott Howl was going insane after so many years of putting up with being nice to a bunch of asshole-students.

“Polly!” Scott yelled, “Oz is like, a fear bro, right? He is MADE of fear or something like that. This might have something to do with him! Have you seen him around lately?”

Polly shook her head, “Ozzy? Nope, I haven’t hung out with him since I gave him a class in ‘Polly’s Pranking & Partying for Proteges’.”

Scott grabbed the ghost’s shoulders and shook them, “That doesn’t matter, bro! Oz could be in trouble or something. Have you seen him TODAY?”

“No! I haven’t seen Ozzy today! There, are you happy now?” Polly stood up from the table, “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have the sudden urge to go dumb my booze down the toilet due to this fear of alcoholism that I’m suddenly developing. Bye boo!”

While Polly went off to deal with that, Scott raced out of the lunchroom, thinking of the one place in the entire world where Oz was most likely to be found.

-

Scott’s decision to head to the oak tree behind the school proved correct. Sure enough, the werewolf immediately saw Oz sitting alone underneath the tree, pulling his legs up to his chest and burying his head in his knees. There were no other monsters in sight in the wide-open field, likely because the aura being emitted from the fear entity was driving monsters away from even trying to hang out outside.

Scott instantly went to approach the fear entity, but every step he took sent a wave of nausea over him. The closer he got to his friend, the more he feared that Oz would reject his friendship, telling Scott to leave him alone. He took another step, fearing that Oz would just run away, never to be seen by Scott or anyone else ever again. He took one more step, fearing that Oz would laugh at him, telling him he was an idiot for even THINKING of the possibility that the two could have a future together. Scott knew that Oz would never be like that, but the fear that Oz was emitting was enough to restrict Scott from immediately running over to the boy and tackling him into a hug.

After a challenging effort of getting close enough to Oz, Scott noticed something strange going on with his body. He noticed that bubbling under his skin were the little phobias, making his physical form look like it was about to explode. Each phobia had expressions that were uncomfortable to look at. Some were sad, some were angry, others just looked scared.

Scott kneeled down next to the fear entity, being careful to place his hand on his shoulder, “Hey bro… umm, it’s me, Scott.”

Oz lifted his head up slightly, mumbled some sort of greeting, then buried it back into his knees.

Scott sat next to him for a few moments, rubbing the spot between his shoulder blades. Oz stayed completely silent. Scott was relieved to hear he wasn’t crying, but also nervous that Oz wasn’t saying anything to him either.

Scott finally spoke up, hoping to get at least something out of him. “Have you been sitting here by yourself this whole time? Nobody’s seen you all day, bro. I was getting worried.”

Oz took a moment before responding. He lifted his head up and stared at the sky. “Yeah, I’ve just been sitting out here today. I haven't been having a great day so far.”

“Did something happen, bro?”

Oz shifted his eyes to the werewolf and frowned, “Sort of…? I- I dunno, it’s hard to explain.”

Scott furrowed his brow, knowing he wasn’t the best at understanding things but always willing to try, “You want to talk about it?”

Oz sighed, shifting his position to straighten out his legs while leaning back against the tree, “It happened yesterday,” He said, “When I was out with my friends, I got into a fight with Amira. It was bad…”

Scott listened carefully as Oz explained the situation. The night before, while Oz was out with his friends, the four had an encounter with some particularly bigoted humans. Although the relationship between monsters and humans was much better than it was hundreds of years ago, there were still plenty of humans and monsters in the world who held hatred for the opposite species. A group of particularly nasty humans jeered at the gang while they were downtown. Oz, Brian, and Vicky did their best to ignore them, but Amira was never one to sit idly by and let people make fun of her kind. As Amira told off the humans, the flame on her head grew larger, signaling that she was getting increasingly angry. After she scared off the humans with her heat, Oz made a foolish attempt at calming the djinn down, resulting in her directing her rage onto him.

“It got out of hand really quickly.” Oz explained sadly, “She was really upset, and I wasn’t helping much by telling her she needed to calm down. It got to the point where it was just her and I yelling at each other. It didn’t end well. I told her she was too reckless, she called me a coward… I didn’t mean to get so angry at her, it just was frustrating watching her get so aggressive with a bunch of stupid humans. I wish I could go back and do things differently. Brian and Vicky tried to intervene but there wasn’t much they could do, her and I were already too far into it with each other. None of us have talked since… I’m worried Amira thinks I’m still mad at her, and I think the others don’t want to say anything out of fear of making things worse. They don’t want to pick sides, I guess.”

Scott frowned upon hearing the story. He knew Amira Rashid was intense, but that was only because she cared. As for Brian and Vicky, they were probably too nervous to say anything only because they were being affected by Oz’s powers. Speaking of…

“Actually bro, since were on the topic…” Scott gulped, trying to word things the right way, “I think you maybe… accidentally… might be making all of the monsters in school be afraid of everything.” He jerked a thumb to the building behind him, “It’s… kind of a mess in there.”

Oz looked at the school and then at the palms of his hands, as if just now noticing the phobias in his body were out of control.

“Oh… shit! I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath, trying to stabilize himself, “I-I just need to calm down a little, I lost control there…I-I’m sorry.”

Scott noticed that the phobias were starting to relax and fade away. He also felt the anxiousness in his own gut disappear. Hopefully the rest of the monsters inside the school were recovering from their anxiety episodes.

“I’m sorry about what happened bro.” Scott said when Oz calmed down a little more, “It must be hard, feeling upset about your fight, but also sad cause it made things awkward with your friends.”

Oz stared at the werewolf with raised eyebrows, “Y-Yeah… that’s actually exactly what’s bothering me. T-That was actually really observant of you, Scott.”

Scott replied with a toothy grin and a thumbs up, “Of course, bro! Coach always says any problems between teammates should be solved ASAP! After all, even the smallest issues between two friends can ruin the entire teams’ performance during a game.”

  
“A-Ah… I see.”

Scott threw his arm over Oz’s shoulder, giving him a gentle shake, “You don't have to talk with Amira now, but I’m sure the sooner you do, the better you’ll feel. Amira loves you, bro! Who wouldn’t want to make up with you? You’re the nicest monster out there.”

Oz chuckled softly, his face flushing pink, “Well… I wouldn’t go as far as to say that. But… thank you, Scott. I appreciate that.”

Oz gave Scott a quick hug, which the werewolf happily returned. As they parted, the two stole a glance at each other before turning away shyly.

“Hey, bro...” Scott said after taking a moment to collect himself, “You wanna ditch? We can go get some ice cream. Grandma says good boys don’t skip school, but I think she’ll let me slide this one time, right?”

Oz laughed as he stood onto his feet, “Well… seeing as I spent the first half of the day sitting back here anyway… that sounds great! Let’s go!”

The duo immediately left because who needs school? It’s all lame and unimportant anyway (I’m just kidding, stay in school, kids). Scott did everything he could to make Oz laugh while they played hooky away from school. From pretending to get a brain freeze and chasing away a cat that got too close for comfort near the werewolf, Scott got Oz laughing out loud in minutes. The fear monster didn’t completely forget about the fight, but Scott was pretty successful in taking his mind off of things, at least for a little bit. Oz would have to work things out with Amira, and he should probably apologize to the school for accidentally invoking fear in everyone.

  
But for the meantime, Oz was content with eating his ice cream and spending his evening with the werewolf he was growing deep fondness for over the last few days.


	3. Mate

“All I’m saying is, Prom Queen should be given to someone of royal status!” The Princess of the Merkingdom said, “How could the school expect an unexperienced commoner to rule Spooky High? It’s absurd.”

“Maybe because Prom Royalty is, oh I dunno, a stupid title with no meaning?” Liam retorted before going back to filtering a pic of Caesar Salad he had for lunch. It was made with only the finest ingredients of the former Roman ruler’s remains. Liam made sure to use the best possible filter.

Scott watched the argument play out from the seat behind the two on the bleachers of the gymnasium. Currently, Coach was having his students do a rigorous obstacle course full of tripwires, smoke grenades, and angry toddlers with sticks. Today was Friday, and Coach always liked to kick off the weekend with something new and dangerous for his students to do. Scott sped through the race in just around five or six minutes, while Liam made up an excuse that he was feeling ill and Miranda had her exercise serfs take over for her. The trio sat on the bleachers while the rest of the students avoided blasts of smoke and tiny children with sharp branches.

“Oh please, Liam!” Miranda scoffed, “Don’t pretend like you wouldn’t want to become Prom King.”

“I’m not pretending. The idea itself literally makes me want to gag.”

Scott leaned his head over the two monsters, “Why do you even want to be Prom Queen anyway?”

Miranda looked up at her werewolf friend, beaming brightly, “I’m so glad you asked Scott! If I earn Prom royalty, I become TWICE the ruler that my sisters are.” She smirked devilishly, her eyes sparkling with mischievous thoughts, “I already have the perfect plan on how I’m going to usurp the throne if I lose this ‘democratic election’ that Prom’s traditionally use. Rest assured, Scott, I WILL be walking out of that ballroom with not one, but two crowns place on my perfectly sculpted head.”

Liam rolled his eyes as he swiped through his phone, “Nobody even cares about that stuff. Prom is supposed to be a ‘final goodbye’, or whatever. I bet you don’t to even know who you’re gonna ask, Miranda.”

“Don’t be so quick to assume, my purple friend!” the mermaid said as she whipped out a piece of notebook paper from her purse, “I made a top three list of the best candidates! Damien is number one. Daddy always says the best way to assure your seat on the throne is by making sure you have a partner who is just as royal as you are. Plus, it’s an added bonus if they would make a good tyrant. Brian is number two. He couldn’t care less about being Prom King, so if we won and I asked him if I could take his role too, I would be Prom Queen AND King! That’s icing on the cake.” The Princess lowered her finger down to the third option, “Amira is my third choice. _If_ I were to lose, she would be good for making a big enough distraction while I make my move to skewer anyone who wins the crown over me.” She folded up the paper and smacked Liam in the chest with it, “Ha! You see? I have plenty of candidates for my prom escort.”

Scott’s ears perked up when the Princess mentioned Amira’s name. It had been just three or four days since Oz had his fight with her. From what the fear monster had been telling Scott so far, the two were slowly rekindling their friendship. It wasn’t quite back to normal, but consolance from the positive Scott assured Oz that the two would be closer than ever once they moved past their fight.

“Well, since I’ve shared my list,” Miranda shifted her legs to face Liam and Scott, “Tell me, who will you two take to prom? I’ve decided I can afford to spare you two and your dates if I need to silence any witnesses.”

The vampire raised an eyebrow at her, “IF I even bother going, I don’t need another monster to have a good time. Needing a date to have fun at a dance is so outdated.”

Scott tapped his chin in thought, he hadn’t even begun to think about Prom as of yet. The event was still several months away, so Scott had forgotten about trying to find a date. Of course, his mind went to Oz pretty quickly. Even if they went just going as friends, he felt confident the night would be amazing with Oz by his side. However, he wasn’t sure if Oz would prefer going with Vicky, Brian, or Amira. Seeing as how Oz was likely closer with them, Scott felt nervous at the idea of Oz telling him he would prefer to go with one of those three instead of him.

“I dunno who I’ll ask…” Scott finally answered, “I guess I’ll worry about that when it’s closer.”

The three monsters sat through the rest of gym scrolling through their phones and chatting lightly amongst themselves. The sounds of students running in fear from aggressive children filled their ears.

-

  
The rest of the school day went by without anything of note happening.

Oz made his way to his corner of the oak after his class. He was surprised to see a small group of monsters sitting in a circle by the spot.

Oz walked over to them begrudgingly, not looking forward to asking them to move somewhere else and praying that they wouldn’t make a fuss about it. He thought up excuses he could make about the tree being haunted or a rave happening in front of the school that could hopefully convince them to get up and go away.

As the fear monster nervously took steps closer to them, he began to notice they were a little more… fuzzy… than your average monster.

…

Wait a minute…

…

Oh no.

“GUYS!! IT’S HIM!” One of the “monsters” yelled as it jumped up from its spot, “It’s King Scott’s betrothed!”

_Betrothed?_ Oz questioned to himself.

The group sitting around the tree were not in fact monsters. Oz recognized them (don’t ask how) as a bunch of humans dressed up in a variety of animal fur suits. In particular, Oz noticed a blue fox and a pink bunny, but it was too hard to decipher all of them since they began to jump up and squeal amongst each other.

“Oh, we have been waiting for you, betrothed one!” The pink bunny exclaimed through its muffled head, “We’ve been watching you spend time with our King! We admire you so.”

Oz took a nervous step backwards, preparing to make a break for it if he had to, “U-Uh… first of all, I am definitely not ‘betrothed’ to Scott, or anyone for that matter!” The mere thought made a blush of pink appear on his face, “S-Second of all, you guys are spying on us!?”

The blue fox took a step forward, “Even if King Scott doesn’t come into the woods to visit us, it’s our job to watch him and make sure he is safe from danger.”

Oz prepared to explain that he knew a different person of royal status who would love to have them be her subjects, but the group surrounded him in a flash of colorful, sweaty fur before he could speak. They fired questions at him such as “Can you tell us what he likes?” “What does Scott smell like?” and “Did Scott ever mention being into cat suits with green and orange fur? I have one he can borrow if he wants!”

Through the onslaught of questions, Oz directed his attention to a red duck first, “Mr. betrothed! Mr. betrothed! You must tell us… how do you do it? How do you get King Scott to be your friend? We cheer him on from the woods during all of his games and we send him fan art in the mail, yet he never comes to visit us.”

Oz gulped, questioning what kind of ‘fan art’ Scott was being sent, “W-well…I…I…” Oz couldn’t think of much to say in the moment. Of course, he wasn’t about to let a bunch of obsessive Furries get their paws on Scott, but they had already discovered the fear monsters secret spot. How could Oz get out of this one?

“I _could_ tell you guys what to do, but…” He slowly backed up from in the middle of the circle, “I can do you one better. Why don’t I go find Scott and bring him here? That way, you all can explain how horn-HAPPY. I MEAN HAPPY- you all are because of him.”

The crowd erupted into a fit of cheers and squeals, rejoicing at the proposal. Oz chose not to stick around to listen though. He bolted back into the school to make sure he could find Scott before Scott found his “subjects”.

-

Meanwhile, Scott stood by his locker, talking to Damien. The bell just rang to signal the end of the day, so students shoved themselves out of classrooms and through the hallways.

“It was hilarious man! I wish you woulda’ been there.” Damien said as he leaned against the locker next to Scott’s, inconveniently blocking an Elf from having access to their locker. “It was me and Amira, right? And we’re working on our lab experiment in Chemistry. Now, Professor Griffin _told_ us just to mix the rat spit with the unicorn blood, right? But that’s too lame for your old buddy Damien LaVey. So, you’re never gonna guess what I did.”  
  


Scott furrowed his brow as he put his books in his locker, “Did you mix-“

“I SET THE BEAKER ON FIRE!” Hollered Damien, earning a few concerned looks from passing monsters. “It was priceless. Then, Amira set the _other_ beaker on fire! We filled the room with so much smoke we had to evacuate!” Damien reached into his pocket and pulled out two thin pieces of paper, “But here’s the best part. Someone forgot their purse in the room when the fire alarm went off, and I saw these tickets laying on top. Now, being the good-natured monster I am, I would NEVER let two good concert tickets to Twenty-One Ogre’s just burn up, so I took them.” The demon flaunted the tickets in front of Scott’s face, wiggling his eyebrows, “They just so happen to be for tonight too, In literally a couple of hours. Let’s buy some drinks and go!”

Scott smiled apologetically to Damien as he closed his locker, “Sorry bro, I’m meeting with Oz. I’ve been training up my _Pokeman’s_ all week so we can battle. His team of child actors and middle-aged moms is DEADLY, but I’ve been leveling up my team, so I think I can beat it!”

Damien groaned, “Seriously noob!? You and I never hang out anymore, it’s always you and Oz.” Damien glanced over the werewolf’s shoulder with a shocked expression, “Oh shit, speak of the devil.”

“Huh? Is one of your dads picking you up today?”

“No! Gahhh, you’re such a dumbass!” The demon said as he smacked his forehead, “It’s Oz, your pathetic little shadow. He’s literally coming over here now.”  
  


Sure enough, the fear monster came running over, skidding to a halt beside Scott and Damien. He appeared to be out of breath, he clutched his chest while a phobia appeared on his shoulder to dab his sweaty forehead with a small piece of cloth.

“Thank god I found you…” Oz panted, “I was worried I missed you and you were already outside.”

“Ah, sorry bro! I got distracted talking to Damien. Anyways, we can head over-“

“NO!” Oz yelled, making a few more monsters’ glance over at the group with concern. “I-I m-mean… let’s d-do something else today! Yeah?” Oz said, still panting from sprinting over to Scott’s locker so quickly.

“You’re suspicious of something. And I want to know what.” Damien said, glaring at Oz curiously, “Listen, if you accidentally killed someone, don’t sweat it. I know plenty of ways to take care of that for you.”

Oz waved his hands in front of his face, “What!? No! Definitely not that! I’m not suspicious about anything!” Oz said with a voice crack that clearly indicated he was suspicious about something. “L-Let’s just go somewhere new today, Scott! I’m tired of that old tree anyway!”

Scott raised an eyebrow, “That’s fine, but are you sure bro? You look all sweaty right now…”  
  
  


Oz made up an excuse that he just randomly decided to get into running all of sudden, which Scott proudly congratulated him for. In truth, Oz felt it wouldn’t be a good idea to tell Scott there was a crowd of stalkers outside waiting for him. Oz got the feeling Scott was aware of these monsters and would feel bad for them and go say hi. The idea of a bunch of obsessive furries surrounding his clueless friend made Oz shiver upon thought. By now, Damien had gotten very bored of listening to Oz’s rambling and decided to go find someone to bring to Twenty-One Ogre’s. Or find someone to get into a fight with; whichever would do.

“Well, I guess we can skip our usual spot and do something else! What do you have in mind?”

Oz blanked. He was normally very good about formulating plans, but he was too preoccupied with trying to keep Scott away from the Furries that he didn’t think that far ahead.

“O-Oh! Well… I’m not sure. Usually when I’m not behind the school I just go home so-”

“Oh! You can come to my place!”

“WHAT!?” Oz stammered.

By now, there weren’t many monsters left in the hallway, as most went home for the day, but there were still a few who loitered around and finally began to question why people who spend time with Scott Howl suddenly get the tendency to scream a lot.

“I mean, if you don’t want to, we can do something else bro?”

Oz replied that going over Scott’s house would be fine. Literally, anything would be better than going to their previous spot. The idea just caught Oz off guard.

Oz and Scott left the school (Oz made sure they left through the front) and got into Scott’s car. The sky was covered in grey clouds that rained down a gentle shower, but it was just a sprinkle, so there was little to worry about.

Scott’s car was a truck, and even though it was a few years old, it still had a nice red paint job on it. The inside was a lot cleaner than Oz expected. Sure, there were empty cans and fast food bags in the back, and it smelled _vaguely_ like sweaty socks, but how much could you expect when Scott likely had to share the car with his wolf pack? Scott put on some tunes while Oz fastened his seat belt.

“Oh yeah, I was meaning to ask,” Scott said as he drove out of the parking lot, “How are things with Amira?”

Oz rested his elbow against the door frame and laid his cheek against his palm, “We’re okay. We had a talk earlier, just the two of us. We apologized for some of the things we said…”

“That’s great bro! I knew you two would be fine.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I overthink things a little too much…”

Scott averted his eyes off the road (just for a second; because he’s a good boy) and glanced at Oz, “It’s not a bad thing to over think stuff. I wish I could think as well as you do! It’s one of the things I like most about you!”

“O-One of?” Oz asked, swatting a phobia at his shoulder that popped up to make googly eyes at the werewolf.

“Sure. What’s not to like about you?” Scott replied with a goofy grin, “First of all, your name is really short, so it’s super easy to spell! O-Z, Oz! You’re like, my only friend with a name I can spell out. Also, you’re really smart. Remember when you helped me study for that quiz in Intro to Thriller Movies? I got a B on that test! That was the first B I’ve ever gotten, and I couldn’t have done it without you, bro. I wish I was as smart as you.”

Oz rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as Scott turned down a side road. “You’re smart, Scott, just in a different way. When you’re out on the field, making those split-second decisions on whether or not to side-step or run through somebody, you’re never wrong, ever!” Oz sighed and looked down at his shoes, “I wish I could think on my feet the way you do, I just would freeze up and get knocked down if I were out there.”

Scott drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, “Thanks! But… that’s not really smarts, that’s just my instincts.”

“It’s still your brain telling you what to do though, right? You’re smart enough to trust in your brain when it matters most. Not during pointless quizzes, but in real life, when you only have a second to decide what to do.”

Scott found himself lost in Oz’s compliment; not being smart enough to think of quite the right words to respond with. He thought back to earlier that day, when he was with Miranda and Liam. Scott would be lying to himself if he hadn’t thought about going to Prom with Oz multiple times since that conversation. Even if it was just as friends, he could already imagine how the night would play out. The two would wrap their arms around each other while they posed with their friends for pictures. They would eat an especially tasty selection of meat, and Oz would surely let Scott eat some off of his plate. The two would try to slow dance on the floor, but likely get bored immediately and Scott would do some silly new move while Oz looked on in a fit of laughter. The two would end the night by driving up to some hill by themselves, laying down on a blanket and spending the whole night talking about what they want to do in the future while watching the stars twinkle above them.

Scott’s daydreaming almost made him drive past his house. He quickly hit the brakes, jerking their bodies forward.

“W-Whoops! Sorry bro! Almost missed our spot.” Scott stammered as he turned into the driveway to the right. Oz was beginning to notice Scott would lose his train of thought a lot, even more than usual, but decided not to bring anything up about it.

Scott’s home was a large, two story house that appeared to be at least a couple hundred years old. There was a large front yard and Oz thought he noticed an even larger backyard with what looked to be a small farmhouse surrounded by a picket fence. There was a decent sized porch with a wooden rocking chair looking out to the front yard. A large window took up space beside the porch. Also, there were no other cars in the driveway. This made Oz a little curious. Considering Scott lived with all of his wolf pack and his grandmother, one would assume the drive way would be packed.

“My cousins are at practice, and grandma is usually out around this time of day.” Scott explained, as if reading his mind. “Whether she’s on bus trips with the gals or dressing up as a wolf man to hunt down little girls with red hoods, she finds ways to keep herself busy. We probably have the place to ourselves for a little while.”

Oz said nothing as he got out of the car. He would be a fool to continue trying to predict the things Scott would say next. There was always something new and strange to figure out about him. The gentle rain from before began to pour down a little harder, so the two hurried inside. 

Oz silently appreciated the fact that there was now a down pour, knowing he could use the rain as an excuse as to why he never returned to “King Scott’s subjects” out behind the school.

Scott unlocked the front door and the two stepped inside. Oz walked in to see a large living room to the left, filled with plenty of couches and chairs for Scott and his many cousins. There was a wall-mounted TV on top of a large, brick fireplace. To the immediate right was a staircase that led to the second floor, but there was also a door on the right wall that looked to be the bedroom for Grandma Howl. Going straight would lead down a small hallway that led into the kitchen and dining room. The walls were painted a dark maroon color that complimented the wood flooring well. The air in the house smelled like a mix between dog fur and old lady perfume.

Overall, the house had a very cozy feel to it.

Scott put his keys on a key holder right next to the entrance and flipped a light switch to turn on a chandelier that hung above their heads. “Welcome to the Howl Residence! We can hang out in my room!”

The two went upstairs, coming into the center of a narrow hallway. Oz counted about five doors in total, one was against the far-left wall while others were spaced evenly around the hall. All the doors were left wide open. Oz saw a large bathroom to the right with another room that was likely a bedroom across from it. Two other rooms stood across from each other on the left side, revealing decently large bedrooms full of bunk beds and dirty clothes littering the floor.

Scott led Oz to the room against the far end of the wall. The room was different compared to the other ones. It was smaller, and there was a single queen-sized bed against the wall. There were several posters, ranging from popular monster athletes to video game references. There was a TV with a video game console underneath it, and a bookshelf near the bed that was filled with comic books and video games cases. There was also a couple bean bag chairs, and a large steel-bar cage against the far wall that looked large enough to contain a fully transformed werewolf (or something along those lines). There was a small bathroom to the left and a few windows with a dresser in between them on the right wall.

“You have this room to yourself?” Oz asked as he stepped inside.

“You got it, bro!” Scott beamed, taking a seat on the edge of his bed, “Grandma says the best boys get their own room. Plus, my wolf pack are actually all brothers, and I’m just their cousin, so she says they can deal with sharing rooms amongst themselves.”

“I see.” Oz said as he nervously took a seat beside the werewolf.

The two spent the next few hours doing a variety of things. They played video games, they watched some Netflix, and they chatted about their favorite kinds of squirrels to chase (Scott did most of the talking for that part). The rain outside showed no signs of stopping, but the noise of it hitting the side of the house made for a relaxing background noise.

Sometime later, the two heard the front door slam open, and a stampede of howling and name calling could be heard rampaging through the house.

The wolf pack was home from practice.

“Ooh! My cousins are back!” Scott cheered as he dropped his phone on the bed and raced out of his room. Currently, the two were in the middle of a Pokemans duel, but Oz supposed that would just have to wait for now. He begrudgingly got up and followed Scott back downstairs.

They went downstairs to see the wolf pack took seated around the dining table, leaving water puddles behind wherever they went. Apparently, a down pour of rain made football practice all the more fun, so they were in a more excitable mood than usual, even if they were soaking yet. As Scott and Oz walked down the hall, they noticed Grandma Howl preparing something in the kitchen. She was actually rather tall, probably around Oz’s height, but her white fluffy hair gave her a few extra inches over him. She had a few wrinkles, and her glasses were your stereotypical lenses that elderly monsters wore, but overall, she didn’t look a day over two hundred (which wasn’t much, considering the average life span of a werewolf was much longer than that).

Scott giddily ran over to his grandma, nearly slipping over a puddle in the process. “Grandma! You’re home! I didn’t hear you come in.” He tackled her into a hug and licked the side of her face.

“Yes, yes, hello Scotty.” Grandma Howl laughed sweetly, patting her grandchild’s arm, “Now give grandma her room, I’m cooking up your dinner.”

Oz carefully stepped towards the two as Scott quickly remembered the fear monster’s presence, dragging him to his side, “Oh yeah! Grandma, this is Oz. I’ve told you about him, remember? He’s the one with the little friends who show up on his arms and he’s the one who plagued the entire town with fear that one day, remember?”

Oz gulped, he hadn’t realized his little outburst had affected more than just the school.

“Ahh… I remember.” Grandma said, pinching the fear monster’s cheeks a little too tightly, “I was wondering when Scott would bring you over!”

Oz rubbed his cheek, laughing awkwardly, “I-It’s very nice to meet you ma’am.”

“Ma’am? Oh please, I’m still in my youthful 300’s dear! No need to be so formal.”

Oz didn’t feel the need to explain that he was technically older than her, seeing as he was older than time itself. But that didn’t feel appropriate to mention.

“Anyways dear,” said the wolf lady, “I insist you stay for dinner. I would never send you home in the middle of a storm! Go take a seat you two, dinner’s ready in a few minutes.”

Scott smiled with an adorably toothy grin, now feeling very excited that Oz of all people was having dinner with his family. They took a seat next to each other at the large dining table. The wolf pack stared at Oz curiously, recognizing him as one of the nerds from school but not being able to remember his name. A few surrounded the fear monster and sniffed him, making sure his scent was acceptable. One man in particular, the one Oz recognized as the one who always stood in front, furrowed his brow and stared at Oz from across the table.

“Now that I think about it…” He scratched his chin in thought, “Scott has been mentioning a certain monster who has been distracting him from practice. That wouldn’t happen to be YOU? Would it?”

Scott was too busy partaking in an arm-wrestling contest to step in, so it was down to Oz to give a good explanation. He could be creative and explain that he was giving Scott a rigorous training exercise to make him an exceptional athlete, or he could be smart, and explain that practice wasn’t needed anymore when considering that it wasn’t Fall and football season was over. Oz chose to be smart about this one, remembering when Scott complimented his smarts in the car ride earlier.

Oz took a deep breath to calm his nerves and explained that Scott didn’t need to practice anymore, seeing that football was over. By now, a few other members of the pack were listening in, and they all seemed to buy the clarification pretty well.

“Ah, of course.” The main member of the pack said with a sharp nod, “At first I was mad Scott was skipping out on us. But now I see it would be rude to force Scott to join us if he doesn’t need to train.”

Another member of the pack pitched in, “Coach always says taking breaks is important. We don’t want to wear ourselves out.

A pack member sitting beside shook his shoulder playfully, “You must be really smart about how to take care of your body if you know all of this, little nerd boy!”

Before Oz could sigh in relief at his successful answer, he was lifted onto the shoulders of two wolves as they cheered and hollered, “ONE OF US! ONE OF US! ONE OF US!”

“W-WHAT!?” Oz cried out as he was lifted up. Scott looked on at the scene with tears of happiness in his bright blue eyes. Never has he seen one of his friends accepted by his wolf pack as quickly as Oz has been.

Grandma Howl came to Oz’s rescue. She gave a sharp whistle, gaining the attention of all of the wolves and the one fear monster. “Dinner’s ready! Come and get it boys!” A large tray full of slabs of steak was presented on the kitchen island. There were a few side dishes for everyone to take, but the meat was clearly meant to be the star of the meal.

Oz was immediately dropped like a rag doll as a stampede of wagging tails raced into the kitchen. Scott kneeled down beside the lightheaded Oz and helped him up to his feet, “You okay, bro?”

Oz was surprised to see Scott stick around to help him up. He was never one to risk losing out on the best bits of a meal.

“Y-Yeah…” Oz struggled to catch his breath, he took a seat at the table and recovered from being lifted up and thrown down in the span of a minute, “I-I’ll live. I think I need to sit for a sec though. If you can grab dinner for me… that’d be great…”

As Oz tried to regain his focus, Scott gave an army salute and raced into the kitchen. Most of the meat was taken, but there were enough smaller pieces Scott and Oz could split between each other. Scott knew Oz wasn’t a huge meat eater anyway, so he gave the fear monster a hearty helping of mashed potatoes and garlic bread to put on his plate. He carefully balanced two plates on his hands and returned back to the table.

The dinner went by much better than how Oz expected it to go. The wolf pack were actually nice to talk to when they weren’t harassing smaller monsters and rampaging throughout the school. Maybe because they were distracted by food, but Oz got the feeling that they were quickly warming up to having Oz over, if only because they proclaimed him to be a master of self-care. Grandma Howl looked on from her seat at the head of the table, pleased that her grandson had a guest over after so many years. She told Oz that if he wasn’t full, he was free to go to the barn outside and help himself to one of the fresh cattle. There were umbrellas by the door to block the rain, and butcher knives were in the kitchen if he needed to borrow one.

“O-Oh… uhh… I-I’m good.” Oz said as he patted his stomach, pretending to be full. He definitely COULD eat seconds, but he preferred his food without having to skin and gut them himself. “Thank you for the meal.”

Scott also gave his belly a good pat, “Yeah! Thanks grandma! Nobody cooks better than you!”

Scott’s cousins also thanked their grandmother by erupting into a fit of cheers: “GRANDMA! GRANDMA! GRANDMA!”

Grandma Howl smiled happily from the head of the table. It was always a pleasure to cook for her grandkids, but Oz and his good manners seemed to be a positive influence on her pack. It was something she could get used to.

Scott glanced out the back window and saw the torrent of rain continue to poor endlessly outside, “Hey grandma, can Oz stay over? It’s getting late and the rain isn’t stopping anytime soon.”

Oz looked at Scott with wide eyes, “Wait. wha-“

“Good idea, Scotty!” Grandma Howl clapped her hands together, “Oz, please spend the night. I’d hate to send you off in the middle of a storm!”

Oz stared with wide eyes as Scott beamed brightly, getting excited at the prospect of having a sleepover with Oz. The rest of the wolves pumped their fists in the air, “SLEEP! OVER! SLEEP! OVER! SLEEP! OVER!” They continued to cheer as they divided themselves out. Some went into the kitchen to pick at the remains of meat, some ran up into their rooms, and a few others ran outside to play a game of catch out in the rain.

“Sleepover time! Sleepover time!” Scott jumped up giddily with a toothy grin on his face, “We can watch movies! We can make popcorn! We can pull pranks on my cousins! Woohoo! This is gonna be so much fun!” Scott ran into the living room to prepare a movie as Oz walked over to Grandma Howl.

“You need a hand with cleaning up?” He asked the woman.

“Goodness no!” She said, patting his shoulder affectionately, “You go have fun! I would never make Scotty’s mate clean for me!”

“M-M-M-MATE??” Oz stammered, “N-No y-you got it all wrong! Scott and I aren’t- I... we aren’t even dating.”

“Oops, did I say that out loud?” Grandma Howl giggled to herself as she picked up plates from the table, “Sorry, my dear. What can I say? My old age gets the better of me sometimes.”

A phobia appeared on Oz’s back to give his shoulders a quick rub. All of this panicking was going to catch up to him at this rate. Oz quickly excused himself from the kitchen and made his way towards the living room.

_Mate?_ _She doesn’t actually think…_

Oz sighed, remembering the things he has learned about werewolves in history class.

Werewolves weren’t ones to throw around the word ‘mate’ so loosely. A mate was special, Oz didn’t even have to be a werewolf himself to know that word was important to their culture. When a werewolf claimed a loved one as their mate, that was their partner until the end of the line, no questions asked. It was practically a marriage proposal without the expensive wedding.

Oz took a seat at the couch while Scott chose between a couple of different superhero movies to play. The fear monster was clearly out of it, but Scott either didn’t notice or chose not to ask what was on his mind.

“I’m so excited, Oz! None of my other friends ever want to stay over for sleepovers!” Scott cheered. He jumped onto the seat beside Oz with enough force to bounce him a couple inches into the air. Before Oz could remind Scott he didn’t really get a say in the matter of spending the night, Scott touched a button on the remote and the movie began.

The two watched movies for the next few hours. At one point, Grandma Howl gave them some popcorn and soda, then went into her room, likely to get some rest. Oz was partially paying attention to the movie, but his mind was clearly elsewhere. The words Grandma Howl told him kept replaying in his mind. Even if Oz wanted to be Scott’s mate, was Scott even the type of guy who would willingly give his heart to someone else in such a way? Oz knew Scott was capable of romantic feelings, he heard rumors of him “talking to” various monsters at school, and once he even saw his online dating profile. But even then, was Scott someone who could tie himself down? Like… for life?

Oz snapped back into focus right as the credits rolled for the last movie. He missed out on most of it.

“What do you want to do now?” Scott asked, leaning over to grin happily at Oz, “I bet my cousins are still up! We can pull pranks on them! OR we can all play a game of soccer in the rain! Or we can sit around a circle and tell each other scary stories! I never get to have sleepovers; there’s so much we can do!” He clapped his hands giddily, like a child would.

“To be honest…” Oz yawned, “It’s getting kind of late, and I’m tired.”

“Ohhh! That’s right! We can sleep! It’s literally in the name! ‘sleep’-over! Why didn’t I think of that sooner! C’mon let’s go!”

“L-Let’s?” Oz asked, gulping.

“Of course, bro! I’m not gonna make you sleep on the couch! You can crash with me in my room!” Scott grabbed Oz by the arm and dragged him upstairs before he could respond.

Scott closed the door as the two entered the room, earning a surprised yelp from Oz. The fear monster shook his head gently, telling himself to stop over thinking things while the werewolf dug through his dresser.

“Let’s see, most of my sleep clothes are pretty big, but there should be something that will fit you.” He eventually pulled out a gray T-shirt that said, “I’m A Good Boy!” on the front and pulled out a pair of dark red basketball shorts. Oz excused himself in Scott’s bathroom, knowing his muddled thoughts mixed with changing in front of the werewolf surely couldn’t be good for his flustered heart.

Oz stept out a moment later. The shirt was a few sizes too big, and the shorts held the fear monsters hips a little awkwardly, but it would do. Scott was in the middle of changing into his white shirt and gym shorts when Oz exited the bathroom. He caught sight of Scott’s well-sculpted stomach right as the white shirt covered it, saving Oz from awkwardly gawking at the sight. Thankfully Scott chose not to sleep in just his boxers tonight, like he normally does.

_Get it together, Oz…_ He thought to himself as he rubbed his temple. Oz prepared to just flop down on one of the bean bag chairs when Scott lifted up the blankets for Oz to crawl in.

“W-WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Oz stuttered as he took a step back.

Scott raised an eyebrow at Oz before he realized what the fear entity was concluding in his mind, “O-Oh! Sorry Oz! You can take the bed. I can sleep on the ground if that would be more comfortable.”

“N-No it’s okay…” Oz took a breath, feeling that one more shock would do him in for good. Once again, he told himself to stop overthinking things when it came to Scott Howl.

As Scott went to the other side of the bed and got in the covers, Oz crawled in. He felt their arms brush against each other upon laying down, causing Oz to nearly shuffle out of the bed as he nervously scooted an inch to the left.

The two laid there in silence for a few moments. Scott was feeling too excited about how much fun his sleepover was, and Oz, although sleepy, was letting his mind wander too much to allow him to rest.

“H-Hey… Scott.” Oz said as he stared up at the ceiling.

Scott, who was facing away from Oz, shifted to turn his body towards him, “Yeah bro?”

_What am I doing? Why are you doing this?_

“H-Have you ever… thought about getting a mate before?” Oz peeped out. Merely asking the question took courage Oz wasn’t even aware he possessed.

“Hmm… I dunno.” Scott said softly, “I never thought too much about it. It’s not like my cousins have any mates, and grandma’s mate died before I was even born. It’s not something I think about much.”

Oz turned on his side, facing Scott.

“Do you think you will? One day?”

Scott thought for a moment, “One day I think I’d like to. But not now, I’m not ready.”

“...Right.”

The two didn’t say anything after that. They drifted off to sleep as the rain continued to pour outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I posted this chapter a little later than I thought I would, so sorry to anyone who might have been wondering about the next post. I have all of the chapters roughly written out in advance, but when I was editing, I ended up deleting most of this chapter and starting something from scratch! 
> 
> I initially had the two go to Oz's house. I didn't give Oz a family, and he didn't have roommates so I quickly realized most of the original chapter was a little boring. I spent a few hours writing a new chapter at Scott's house so I could include his family and make it a little more interesting. I like the way this chapter came out, so please feel free to leave comments/kudos! I really appreciate the feedback. I don't mean to sound desperate, but I really appreciate responses to my work, it motivates me to continue posting.
> 
> Thanks for reading my notes! Have a good day!


	4. View of the Sunset

Under most circumstances, Oz and sports didn’t mix well.

Oz was clumsy, he wasn’t particularly athletic, and he hated the competitive aspect of it all. Murder and other violent acts were common play in the monster world of athletics, so that didn’t make things any easier for the pacifist approach Oz had on life. Oz became used to being the weakest link on any team he was on. He made a habit of playing sports as little as possible; instead preferring to watch from the stands.

An exception to this rule would be dodgeball.

Whether it was the fact it was less team-oriented and more free-for-all or that avoiding others was the optimal strategy, Oz found joy in playing dodgeball. The chaotic rules Coach always threw in, such as putting roller skates on the players or blindfolding them, made it so Oz could rely on staying low and unnoticed to win instead of rushing in a blaze of glory to take on the entire enemy team.

Despite Oz’s enjoyment for dodgeball, he never would have guessed he would be good enough to be one of the last-standing players on his team.

The noise of coach’s whistle screeched throughout the gymnasium, “BRIAN! YOOOOOOOU’REEEEEE OUT!!”

Brian mumbled out a swear word as he got up from the floor. The force of impact almost knocked his head off (not that that would be much of an issue for a zombie). He walked over to the bleachers and took a seat beside Vicky, who gave him a pat on the back and congratulated him for making it as far as he did.

Oz made an audible gulp as he watched yet another teammate get taken out. The enemy team only had one opponent left, but the fact that it was a huge golem with eight arms meant they excelled at throwing and catching balls at the same time. Oz was up against a real challenge here.

Oz still had Amira on his side, however, so while they did have a number’s advantage, they were still severely unmatched in terms of skill and usable limbs (Oz’s phobias weren’t about to tank hits for the fear entity).

Amira called out to Oz from the other side of the court, “We need a strategy. I’m not gonna walk out of here with an ‘L’.” Her fiery hair was growing large with determination, but her expression still seemed to be focused and composed.

Oz ducked to avoid being pelted by a sneak-attack throw by the golem, “I think I have an idea. Get back!”

The duo made a dash for the back of the court, Amira on the left side and Oz on the right, as they jumped over an onslaught of throws. The golem was saving up a decent pile of rubber balls on their side, but they were giving them up fast as they chucked them over the line.

The two monsters made it to the back of the court, meeting up at the back center in the process, “Okay… now what?” The djinn asked, catching her breath.

Oz picked up one of the dodgeballs that accumulated on their side, “Okay, umm… grab as many as you can, try not to get out, and wait for my signal!”

Amira grabbed two balls in each of her hands and managed to squeeze another one in her mouth, “mmph! o’kay! G’dd lwuck!”

The two turned on the offensive, dashing up the sides of the court while the golem prepared to avoid their attacks. Some of the golem’s hands held balls ready to use as shields while others were open palmed to catch any that were thrown weakly.

Amira released an onslaught of throws as she charged up the right side, making sure to aim for hands that weren’t open so she wouldn’t be eliminated by a catch from the golem. Oz scurried up the left side, ball in hand.

The golem blocked two balls with his own and ducked under the third one due to not wanting to touch a ball that had been in Amira’s mouth. The golem turned towards Oz as he approached the center line, ready to catch his throw.

Right as Oz approached the center, he hopped in the air and jerked his body to the right, throwing the ball to his partner, “AMIRA!”

Amira smirked as she jumped up to catch the ball in midair. With a swift motion, she launched the ball towards the golem’s unguarded right shoulder. In a blaze of blinding speed, done from the fact that Amira accidentally set the ball on fire, the maneuver caught the opponent off guard and struck them in the shoulder.

Coach didn’t blow his whistle as he normally did when there was an elimination. Instead, he gasped audibly and yelled, “HOLYMOLY I CAN’T BELIEVE THAT JUST HAPPENED!!!”

The golem frowned as it rubbed it’s burnt shoulder. Since it was made of rock, it hopefully didn’t hurt too bad to be struck by a flaming ball (because everyone knows fire is weak to rock).

Amira and Oz ran over to each other, meeting in the center of the court and having an awesome bro-hug.

“Atta boy!” Amira hollered as she patted the fear-being’s back, “Nice pass!”

“Nice catch!” Oz smiled brightly, feeling a warm feeling in his chest as he hugged the fiery djinn, “I-I’m surprised that worked.”

Amira laughed and released Oz from the hug, moving her hands onto his shoulders. “Well, we make a good team.”

Oz nodded happily, “Yeah… you’re right!”

The two smiled happily at each other, forgetting all about any discord that used to be between the two. They had long since gotten over their argument, but little moments like these were always nice to just confirm that the two were friends for life. Their moment was quickly interrupted by a crowd of cheering students and one extremely proud coach running over to the pair.

Vicky cheered happily as she swung her arms around her friend’s shoulders, “OH MY GOD YOU TWO WERE AWESOME! I LITERALLY LOVE YOU BOTH.”

Brian approached from behind her, his normal scowl turned into a pleased smirk, “Yeah, that was pretty rad.”

The four embraced in an awesome group hug. The friendship levels released from the action were so incredible that students were moved to tears upon sight.

“FRIENDSHIP! IT’S SO BEAUTIFUL!” Coach cheered as he threw his arms around their backs to get in on the action. Students surrounded them, praising the awesome teamwork and slapping the duo on their backs. The golem also made their way over to the group. Although they were disappointed they lost the game, they were really chill and complimented Oz for his fake out maneuver.

Oz laughed as his friends and classmates enveloped him. All of this attention might be more than what he is used to, but it struck him with a feeling of pure joy.

-

_Meanwhile…_

_-_

The sound of Vera Oberlin’s heels against the ground echoed through the hallway as the box in Scott’s arms clattered in beat to his footsteps.

“Almost there, Scott.” Vera said, turning her head to check on how the werewolf was doing “Not too heavy yet for you?”

“I’m good!” Scott said cheerfully, “By the way bro, what’s in this suspiciously heavy box? It’s labeled ‘Not Fragile: Handle Recklessly’ so it can’t be something like food or sports equipment or anything important.”

“That doesn’t matter. All you need to worry about is throwing it in the dumpster for me.”

“The dumpster? I thought this was a present for someone’s birthday?”

“I said it’s a gift. A gift for me knowing I don’t need to deal with that guy any— I mean, just don’t worry about it, alright?”

…

No response.

…

Vera stopped in her tracks, “I said, ALRIGHT!?”

…

“Scott! Answer me when I-“

Vera whipped her head around to see she had left Scott a few feet behind her without even noticing. He was still holding the box, but his face was pressed against a window that they walked past. His tail wagged back and forth excitedly. Vera also swore she saw a little bit of drool coming out of the werewolf’s maw.

Vera groaned and walked over to Scott so she could snap him into focus and direct him back to the task at hand. She let her eyes follow whatever had him so distracted.

She looked through the window to peer into the gymnasium, watching the exact moment when Oz passed the dodgeball to Amira to fake out that golem. The second Amira’s flaming ball struck the large rock being, Scott cheered, shooting his fists in the air and dropping the box on the ground with a sharp thud.

“SCOTT!” yelled Vera.

“YES! YES, YES, YES! DID YOU SEE THAT, VERA!? OZ IS AMAZING! HE HIT EM’ WITH A SIDE APPROACH FOLLOWED BY A CROSS FAKE OUT MANUEVER. OHMYGOD OZ IS THE COOLEST!”

Vera rolled her eyes at the sight of Scott continuing to cheer for Oz.

“Scott Howl… you are whipped.” The gorgon mumbled.

Vera Oberlin was never one to meddle.

In all honesty, she could care less about what her friends did as long as they weren’t killing themselves or doing something that would damage her own reputation by association. She mostly let her friends do their own childish things while she silently supervised and gave time-outs when necessary.

Anyone who was willing to pay attention for more than ten minutes would know that Scott was beyond infatuated with Oz, and Vera was fairly certain the feelings were mutual. Even if Scott himself wasn’t aware of how badly he was crushing on the fear entity, it was painfully obvious given how inseparable the two were the past month or so. At first, Vera thought the crush was cute. She was happy Scott was finally growing up a little and developing romantic interests, but she also didn’t care too much to look deep into it. She never had a problem with Oz, but he was quiet and a little weird, so Vera assumed the crush would fade away once Scott inevitably lost interest and moved on to the next new thing that caught his eye.

However, it soon became evident that Scott’s infatuation was growing larger each and every day, but Vera knew Scott was too dumb to catch on and Oz was too timid to act on it.

She would have to do a little bit of meddling. And when it came to Scott, meddling would have to being as direct and blunt as possible.

“You do realize Oz likes you back, right?” Vera said, making a disgusted face upon witnessing the fear entity and his friends do a cheesy group hug.

“Of course!” Scott replied innocently, “He tells me every day he likes hanging out with me! He’s such a nice bro!”

“I don’t mean in the friend way, Scott.”

Scott turned to face Vera, at first his face was tilted with confusion, then blushing red with embarrassment, and finally shocked as he fully understood what Vera said.

“W-What do you mean!? Oz likes me like that? A-And who told you I like him like that? I never said that to you, did I!?”  
  


Vera shook her head and sighed, no matter how pathetic Scott Howl may be, she still held a soft spot for him deep within her cold dead heart.

Scott nearly tripped over the box on the ground as he stumbled backwards, “B-But you can’t be sure about stuff like that! Oz is my best bro! How would you know if he has feelings for me?”

Vera took a step towards Scott and placed a hand on his shoulder, choosing to be sincere, “I know it’s hard to realize, but yes, he likes you. In fact, he REALLY likes you, like it almost makes me want to barf. I used to think I was the person who cared about you most, but Oz has me beat by a long shot. Now listen carefully, because I’m only going to say this once. Oz is falling _hard_ for you, so it’s now or never. Take the shot. Go for the touchdown. LITERALLY please do something before I cringe any more at how embarrassing you two are.”

Vera’s tender side disappeared as fast as she put it on. With a twist of her wrist, she flicked Scott in the forehead.

“Now quit standing around! Pick that corpse back up and shake a leg. And don’t even THINK about dropping my property like that again! Now let’s get a move on before we get caught, moron!” 

Vera turned sharply on her heels as she walked outside towards the school’s dumpster.

Scott didn’t say anything as he reached down and and picked up the box, finally realizing it _did_ weigh similarly to that of your average monster carcass. He took one last look through the window, smiling softly at how cheerful Oz looked, before following Vera outside.

-

Scott sat in class, eagerly anticipating the end of the day. He wasn’t even pretending to pay attention the video presentation on the board. Vera’s words played in his head on repeat.

_“He likes you. In fact, he REALLY likes you.”_

Scott knew the gorgon was smart, so anything she said would always be backed up by evidence. Even then, Scott questioned if what she believed was actually true. Vera’s advice was trapped inside Scott’s brain all day, making it even more difficult than usual to pay attention in class.

Even if Oz _did_ like him, who was to say anything more had to come out of it than that? Scott couldn’t recall Oz ever being in a relationship before. What if Scott brought up all of these mushy-gushy feelings and just freaked out the skittish fear monster?

All of these confusing thoughts were making Scott’s head spin. Being overly critical on a topic for too long always ended with Scott giving himself a headache.

“Psssssst.” Whispered a voice beside Scott. The werewolf’s ears perked up, turning his head to see Polly, slipping a tiny note on his desk.

“ _Hi buddy! U look sad :( my water bottle is full of tequila if u need a sip teehee – xoxo Polly”_

She held her flask out immediately afterwards, but Scott declined.

_Brrring._

The sound of the bell meant Scott could finally get out of this boring classroom. He planned to keep an eye out for any signals Oz was giving up before making his own conclusion.

Scott prepared to run out of the room but was stopped by a ghost stopping him in his tracks.

“What’s the rush, boo?” Polly asked after taking a swig of her drink, “You’re just gonna leave without talking to your best buddy Polly? C’mon, man, I hate seeing you look all mopey and stuff.”

“I’m fine, but I don’t have time to chat!” replied Scott, “We’ll talk later Polly, I’m in a hurry.” The werewolf walked around her but was stopped by a translucent arm pushing his chest back.

“Hold it right there, buckaroo!” Polly said with a fake western-accent and all, “I know you. When you get distracted like this, you do stupid stuff. Now don’t leave me in the dark, or you’ll leave me no choice but to possess your head and figure it out for myself.”

Before Scott could explain, Polly decided she never has tried to possess Scott before, and figured it would be fun. With a mischievous grin, she leaped into his body and phased into him with a flash of light, her flask falling to the ground in the process. Scott’s body twitched and jerked for a moment, but eventually, he stood completely still, eyes rolling into the back of his head. Monsters watched the act occur in complete and utter horror. Polly took a quick peek through Scott’s mind. There wasn’t much in there besides pizza, sunshine and rainbows, but there was a whole lot of memorizes of Oz that Polly could use to get a grasp of the situation.

Polly phased out of Scott after just a moment, starry-eyed and gasping with delight as Scott clutched his chest, trying to bring his conscious back into control.

“SCOOOOOOTTTT!” Polly screamed, levitating a few inches off the ground to shake Scott’s shoulders aggressively, “YOU! OZZY! OZZY AND YOU! GAHHHH! YOU TOTALLY WUV’ HIM OMG TOO CUUUUUTTTTTE!”

“POLLY!?!” Scott screamed back, “YOU’RE SHAKING ME AND YOU’RE SCARING ME AND SCREAMING IS MY NATURAL RESPONSE TO BEING SCARED! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?”

The ghost beamed brightly, leaning in close and squishing Scott’s cheeks with her palms, “I understand EVERYTHING, Scott! Not only did I find out ear-scratches are a secret turn on for you, but I TOTALLY JUST SAW how BAD you have it for Oz!”

Scott tried to come up with words to respond, but he was still trying to recover from being possessed and scared shitless by the poltergeist.

“If there is one thing I know about Ozzy-poo,” Polly continued, “It’s that he doesn’t just let ANYBODY into his life” She pointed out the door, letting the alcohol influence her into emotionally crying, “Go, Scott Howl, go! Go get your man!”

Scott panicked, running in circles a couple of times before making a dash out of the door.

“Gahhhhhhhh! Okaybye Polly!!” Scott screamed, not fully understanding her but at least knowing Polly was giving him permission to leave. He continued to wail as he bolted out the classroom door and down the hallway. Monsters watched him as he stormed down the hallway, arms thrown behind his head and screaming bloody murder. He also shouted something about monsters needing proper consent forms before possessing other monsters.

Before he even knew it, Scott ran all the way to the little corner under the tree behind the school. His throat was raspy from yelling, and sweat formed on his brow, but for the most part, Scott was already getting over the traumatic experience Polly put him through.

Scott turned his head from side to side, Oz was nowhere in sight. His nose _did_ pick up a delicious smell, however. He looked down to see a tiny morsel of meat on the grass. He immediately gobbled it up, noticing a trail of similarly sized treats leading into the woods.

Scott, being gullible and unsuspicious of strange bait leading him into the forest, followed the trail of meat, picking up each piece along the way. This went on for a couple of minutes, Scott walking over fallen logs and leaves to grab treats. Eventually, the werewolf found the end of the trail, leaving him in a small clearing deep in the woods. Scott entered the clearing, seeing a decent sized hill with a river jutting through the middle to create a short waterfall pouring into a small pond.

Scott saw Oz sitting crossed legged on top of the hill, smiling down at him.

“There you are, you made it!” Oz called down happily, “Hurry up! I want to show you something!”

Without hesitation, Scott sprinted up towards him. As his feet carried him forward, every thought that had been in his head up to this moment began to play simultaneously.

_“Scott Howl… you are whipped.”_

_“You do realize Oz likes you back, right?”_

_“He likes you. In fact, he REALLY likes you.”_

_“He doesn’t just let ANYBODY into his life, especially with how much he has let you in.”_

Scott’s mind raced as he charged up the hill. He knew it, all of his friends knew it, the only monster who didn’t know it was the fear entity who smiled brightly at him as he watched him run over.

Scott Howl knew it was no or never. He was never going to be 100% certain if their feelings were true but taking a chance and revealing the truth was worth it, no matter the outcome.

“OZ I HAVE FEELINGS FOR YOU!” Scott yelled, skidding to a halt and panting.

“…”

Oz stared at Scott with wide eyes. A phobia on his shoulder pulled out a $5 bill and handed it to another one beside it, apparently losing a bet about who would confess first.

“WHAT!?” Oz screamed, leaning back and balancing his hand behind him to keep from falling over into the pond.

Scott didn’t mean to say it all out right like that. But still, keeping in his feelings was never something he was good at. With all of those emotions bubbling in his brain, it was inevitable he would burst at any moment.

“I’m sorry bro!” Scott breathed out in between pants, “Vera’s right, Polly’s right. I’m sure even everyone else has caught on by now! I like you a lot… like A LOT, bro! I can’t do anything without thinking about you! I can’t play sports, I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t chase my tail…” He paused, taking a moment to sit down and collect his thoughts, “Since becoming so close to you, I can’t do anything the same anymore. Everything I do, I want YOU to be there with me. I’m really sorry bro. I should have told you sooner, but I didn’t want to freak you out and make things awkward.”  
  
Many, many thoughts raced through Oz’s mind. This was evident by the fact that a multitude of phobias appeared on Oz’s body, each looking a little freaked out with some looking extremely happy.

“Scott… I…” Oz stammered, “T-This isn’t what I expected, like… at all. I… I mean, I mean jeez I am never one to talk about my feelings. And yet, with you I—I want…” The fear monster squeezed his chest, feeling like his shadowy heart was about to burst into a million pieces.

“When I’m with you, I want to tell you everything.” Oz said, scooting an inch closer to Scott, “I want to share everything with you, I want to be someone who I didn’t know I could even be a couple months ago.”

Oz sighed, continuing his ramble. “When you saw me, a nerdy, awkward little monster sitting by himself against a tree, you took a chance on me. You took a chance to befriend me and made me start having feelings I never would even knew I could even feel.” Oz pinched his nose, telling himself to stop rambling forever and to just get to the point, “S-So Scott, I… I…”

Oz fell silent, figuring Scott could pick up what he was saying from there.

There was no kiss. There was no embrace with sparks flying all around them. There was no whispering ‘I love you’ as the sun dipped over the horizon.

There was just a mutual understanding.

The two monsters sitting together on a cliff in the middle of the woods silently understood that one wanted to be beside the other just as much as the other.

That was all that needed to be said.

After many moments of sitting comfortably beside each other, letting minutes pass into nearly an hour, Scott Howl eventually spoke up,

“So… how did you find this place anyway?” 

Oz recollected his thoughts, remembering what brought him to this point. He snorted into his palm upon remembering. Originally, he journeyed into the woods to track down a certain group of furries and politely tell them that Scott moved to Venezuela and they should follow him there immediately. After taking care of that, Oz stumbled upon this location by sheer luck.

“I was taking a walk through the woods and found this spot.” Oz replied. Technically, it wasn’t a lie. “And I used those meat snacks, figuring it would be fun to lead you here. I was planning on giving those to you anyway, so…”

“They were delicious!” Scott smiled, patting his belly.

Oz pointed a finger towards a small clearing of trees to the west, “I wanted you to see this. You get a pretty good view of the sunset from here, see?”

Scott followed Oz’s finger to the spot he was pointing to. Sure enough, there was a clearing in the trees that gave a nice view of the sky. The cliff provided the perfect height for watching the sun as it prepared to fall into the horizon.

Scott scooted a little closer to Oz so he could get a better view of the sky. Their shoulders brushed together gently, yet neither moved away.

“By the way,” Scott said softly, “Do you want to come over again soon? I’m sure grandma would love to hear the news!”

Oz raised an eyebrow quizzically, “News? What news?”

“You know… the news that we’re dating now.”

Oz stared with wide eyes.

“…W-What?”

Scott scratched his forehead, “I-I mean… we both just told each other how we feel! One monster tells their feelings to another, then if the feelings are the same, they date. T-That’s how it works right!?

Oz snorted again, this time following it up with a fit of laughter. The fear-entity clutched his stomach and bent over, not even pretending to hide how amused he was.

“W-What!? What’s so funny!? Did I do it wrong!?” Scott stammered nervously.

“N-No Scott… you did nothing wrong.” Oz breathed out, wiping a tear from his eye. Under normal circumstances, A monster would have asked their crush to be their partner by directly asking or through an elaborate set up.

Scott, however, was not one to follow normal circumstances. He never made plans and instead decided things based on how they were. If Scott already concluded that Oz was his boyfriend, then who was he to say otherwise?

“Scott, I’d love to come over again.” Oz looked at the werewolf and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze.

“Awesome bro!” Scott gave him a thumbs up, relieved to know he wasn’t being too quick to jump the gun and freak Oz out.

Scott and Oz sat for a couple more hours, only getting up to leave when the sun fully disappeared over the horizon. They already made plans for their first date, deciding to have a picnic on top of the hill with the river and the pond underneath.

They decided this spot would be a new little corner that they could share together.


	5. Prom Night

Oz nervously walked up the steps to the front porch of the Howl Residence.

“This is it…” He whispered before knocking on the door.

Scott and Oz agreed that they would meet up at the werewolf’s house today.

The day where the two told Grandma Howl about their relationship happened months ago.

Today, the two were going to Monster Prom together.

Oz stood in front of the door for a minute, patiently waiting for an answer. He used his phone to check his hair, making sure it was as wavy and pitch-black as it was when he left. He adjusted the hat on a phobia on his right shoulder. Originally, he bought that hat to wear on his actual head, but he accidentally left it in the washer too long, so it shrunk down, forcing him to give it up for the little blob to wear.

The fear-entity was in the middle of straightening his tie when he heard the door click and Scott whipped the door open.

“BROOOOO!!!” Scott yelled, hugging his boyfriend and lifting him up, “YOU LOOK SO GOOD! I’M SO EXCITED! AHHH!!!”

Oz laughed as Scott pulled him up. At first, these hugs would startle Oz, but after getting used to Scott embracing him t every day for the past few months, Oz quickly grew to accept these greetings from the werewolf.

“S-Scott…” Oz chuckled as he was put back on the ground, “Y-You look…” He eyed down Scott’s outfit. He was at a loss for words, so a phobia appeared on his arm to give a whistle of approval.

Scott grinned as he adjusted his blue tux jacket, “I was hoping you would like it. We never planned to match so I went with this.”

Oz couldn’t even try to hide the blush on his cheeks. He was amazed by how well Scott put himself together for Prom. The suit fit him perfectly, and the striking blue of the jacket did wonders to compliment Scott’s already dazzling eyes.

Oz didn’t realize how long he was gawking until Scott grabbed his hand, “C’mon! Let’s go inside.”

After a few months of the two being “a thing”, Oz noticed how heavily Scott relied on physical affection. At first, it was difficult for Scott to keep his hands off of Oz, always giving him random hugs and leaning in to kiss him almost constantly. Oz appreciated the intimacy, but it was a little overwhelming, especially when it happened in the middle of the school cafeteria. After Oz talked to Scott about this, it didn’t take long for Scott to adjust his behavior. Even when he didn’t display the overt forms of physical affection, Scott still couldn’t help himself from having at least a little bit of physical connection whenever possible. Whether it be when walking together or doing it discreetly under the table, holding hands became the primary form of endearment between the two.

Upon walking inside, Oz noticed the home was unusually quiet. Normally when he walked in, Oz would be greeted by members of the pack tackling him to the ground and sniffing his butt. This time however, an usual silence filled the house.

Scott took a seat in the living room with Oz following behind, “Prom starts in an hour; we have time to chill before we head out.”

“Yup! Sorry, I got here a little early.” Oz replied. He underestimated how long it would take for the Uber to pick him up. Perhaps the fact that his driver was a teleporting sage may have had something to do with bringing Oz to his destination in under a minute.

“Oz!? Scott!?” Grandma Howl suddenly spoke as she came down the main hallway from the kitchen, “What are you doing here?”

“Grandma!” Scott beamed brightly, standing and dragging Oz up with him, “Look! I got ready for Prom all by myself. See?”

“Were you changing upstairs the whole time? I thought you left with your cousins hours ago. They must already be pre gaming for the event tonight by hunting deer in the woods!”

“Event? You mean prom?”

Grandma Howl rubbed her forehead and sighed deeply, “Scotty…dear… how many times do I have to tell you? Tonight’s a full moon! You can’t go to Prom! Do you know how bad it would be if you transformed in the middle of the dance floor and ripped your classmates apart? You’d be thrown in jail! Only bad boys don’t go to jail!”

Scott stood there blankly for a moment, processing the information. Suddenly, he gasped dramatically upon realizing the situation, “OH SHIT! I TOTALLY FORGOT! THE FULL MOON IS TONIGHT!”

After a couple minutes of Scott freaking out and exclaiming that he didn’t want to transform and go berserk, he remembered his boyfriend, who was standing there silently and watching Scott’s panic unfold.

“Oz… oh no bro, I’m so sorry!” He said, grabbing the fear-monster’s shoulders, “It totally slipped my mind. I-I can’t go to Prom after all…”

“Y-Yeah, but it’s okay!” Oz reassured, “Prom’s lame anyway. And this tux is just a rental.”

“I know bro but—”

Oz silenced Scott before he could ramble. He placed a finger against the werewolf’s mouth and shushed him gently, “If you want to go out hunting with your cousins you can, but it’s not like you and I can’t just stay here for a night in.”

“Bro…” Scott whimpered as he continued to hold Oz’s shoulders.

“Well, whatever you two do…” Grandma spoke as she made her way into her room, “I’ll be settled down in here tonight. Stay safe, don’t eat anyone, butt plugs are in the closet.” She added with a wink, “Goodnight my dears, you both look so handsome!”

She locked the door before the two could respond.

“Bro…” Scott spoke up after a minute of awkward silence, “Are you sure you’re okay not going to Prom? Everyone will be there.”

“Even _if_ I went…” Oz sighed, “I’d just be a nervous wreck the whole night worrying about you. I’d rather stay here and help you go through this.”

Scott smiled, “Oz… you’re the best!” He replied with a toothy grin. He gently put his fingers underneath the fear-entity’s chin, lifting his head up and leaning his own head down. He immediately gave Oz an affectionate kiss which the other monster happily reciprocated.

It took a while before the two could perfect their kiss. At first it was difficult for them to share a good kiss, as Oz would become a flustered mess and Scott would have a hard time finding Oz’s lips due to them being the same black color as the rest of his face. However, after _plenty_ of practice runs, the two found the perfect position, intensity, and duration for their kisses in order to please the other as much as possible.

The two separated after a moment. Scott sighed deeply as he let go of his hold on Oz.

“I guess we should start the prep work then.”

Oz tilted his head, “Prep work?”

As it turns out, making plans to contain a werewolf during a full moon took a lot more preparation than Oz initially thought. When it came to full moon transformations, Grandma Howl was actually pretty lenient about rules. Even if leaving the house during this time was dangerous, she would never restrict her grandchildren from exploring their natural urges. Sheltering werewolves from going on the hunt during a transformation could actually cause severe psychological damage down the line. For as long as Scott could remember, Grandma Howl gave her grandchildren two options: they could go outside and stay together as a pack for safety, or they could lock themselves at home for the night.

Scott never had a preference with which option he chose, as he could never remember anything that happened during those nights anyway.

They only had a few short hours before night would come, so they had to act fast. While Scott stayed home to get his cage ready, Oz borrowed the werewolf’s car so he could go shopping. The primary thing on his list was silver. Although Scott claimed he could withstand the entire night being in his cage, Oz was still cautious of what his beastly form could do. Between using his ravenous strength to rip the cage apart or using his puppy dog eyes to beg him to undo the lock, Oz decided it would be a good idea to have a last resort to keep Scott in the house. Oz bought enough silverware to supply a family for Thanksgiving dinner, and he also bought some snacks that he knew Scott was fond of. Going out while still wearing his Prom tuxedo was a little awkward, considering how many monsters gave him weird looks, but Oz managed not to feel embarrassed. He kept Scott on his mind as he gave up a hefty amount of his savings on silver utensils and meat snacks.

Upon returning back to the Howl residence, Oz got to work.

With a few rolls of duct tape, he taped all of the doors and windows with silver to prevent the werewolf from having an escape route in case he gets free. Oz felt positive his Prom date would be able to restrain himself enough to stay put, but one could never be too cautious.

Oz wiped his brow, finally covering all of the exits with forks and knives. He stripped off his yellow jacket, white vest, and tie, leaving him in a black button up and yellow pants (his phobia refused to take off his little hat).

_Rnnng. Rnnng._

Oz pulled out his phone. It was a facetime call from Vicky.

“Hello?” He answered.

“OZ!” Vicky yelled. She was standing in front of the school. Amira and Brian were also in frame.

“Where the hell are you? The doors open in a few minutes.”

Oz rubbed his forehead, he forgot to text his friends and update them on the situation, “Shoot. I-I totally forgot to tell you guys. Scott and I are staying home tonight. There’s a full moon tonight and I don’t want to leave him by himself.”

“Damn it, that sucks!” Amira groaned. Oz could see her stretch her hand to the sky to give the moon a middle finger.

“So you’re not coming at all?” Brian asked.

“No… I’m sorry guys. But still, don’t let me stop you guys from having fun! Send me lots of pictures! Miranda told me she had a ‘surprise’ in store for when Prom Royalty is announced, whatever she meant by that.”

Vicky frowned, “We all can come over and help? If you want…?”

Oz shook his head, “No, I’m good over here; I’ll see you guys soon though. You all should head inside soon.”

“He’s right. Let’s leave Oz to take advantage of his muscular, ravenous boy toy.” Amira said with a teasing wink.

“AMIRA!!! THAT IS NOT—”

“Mhmkay byeeeee!” The djinn said cheerfully. She ended the call before Oz could tell her off.

Oz groaned out loud, knowing she was just messing around but still feeling annoyed. Oz would be lying if he said he was disappointed he couldn’t go to Prom. He used to resent it, assuming he would go alone, but ever since he planned to go with Scott, he was looking forward to it. But of course, things changed. Regardless of Oz’s excitement, it was never a question of if Oz would choose to stay with Scott or not.

Also, he would never dare try to do anything sexual with Scott during his transformation. He wasn’t much into furry kink’s, and he also figured Scott would be too driven by his primitive instincts to give proper consent to anything. Besides, the two were still in the early stages of their relationship. Having sex with an animalistic Scott would be something to consider later.

Now that he was finished with that, Oz went to go see how Scott was doing. He looked at the door which lead into Grandma Howl’s room as he approached the stairs. He questioned what the woman did during her own transformation. She was old, and likely had better control than her grandkids, so maybe she behaved as she normally did, just becoming slightly hungrier and much hairier.

Oz rushed up the stairs, knowing dusk was approaching fast, so the transformation could occur any moment now. He walked into Scott’s bedroom to see Scott organizing everything in his cage. The cage itself was about five feet wide, seven feet long, and five feet height. It had plenty of space to contain the large monster, but Oz feared he would still be cramped in there. The left side was covered in snacks, the right side was layered with comics and handheld gaming systems, and a blanket and pillows were folded neatly in the back. The windows were also drawn shut in hopes of keeping the moonlight from influencing Scott before he was ready.

Scott changed out of his outfit and was left in just a pair of plaid boxers. As sad as Oz was to see him no longer wearing his fancy suit, the sight of Scott in his underwear wasn’t a bad sight either. Oz used to get pretty flustered when seeing Scott shirtless, but after months of being together, the two had plenty of time to get familiar with each other without clothes (wink wink).

Scott turned his head when Oz walked in. He was definitely still his normal self, but Oz noticed his pupils were dilated and he panted with his tongue out.

“Hi buddy…” Oz said as he nervously stepped into the room and shut the door. (wink wink x2).

“Bro…” Scott groaned, slouching his head on the floor, “I’m starting to feel it. I feel sick. But I also feel like running a marathon and feasting on a couple cows.”

“I know Scott…” Oz said, kneeling in front of the cage and rubbing his back, “I’ll be here the whole time, okay?”

“Thanks, bro. By the way, can we bang?”

“…W-What!?”

Scott smacked his forehead, “Agh! Sorry bro. It’s the werewolf instincts talking…” Scott whimpered as he pulled himself upright. He felt his stomach turn, and he was losing his energy quickly. These were signs that his body was preparing to transform. He gave a small key to Oz, “Keep this. It unlocks the cage for me.”

Oz silently took the key, closed the cage door, and placed the lock on the latch.

“See you in the morning…” Oz whispered, reaching into the cage and giving Scott’s hand a quick squeeze.

“Oz…” Scott breathed out. “I can’t t-thank you… enough. Nobody has ever offered to stay with me for this before, and m-my cousins usually ditch me when I go hunting with them so Ialways wake up alone, covered in blood and pizza—” He winced, feeling woozy, “I-I don’t know if this is just the moon talking, but I need to tell you something. Oz, I-I know we haven’t been together long-- and I don’t want to freak you out but I think I lov—”

Oz watched in awe as Scott’s body grew double in size and covered in fur.

_Grrrrrrr…_

…

The beast might have looked scary, and it’s growl intimidating, but Oz knew underneath all of those muscles and sharp fangs, Scott was still in there. Oz crouched down to look as unintimidating as possible. He kept his face in clear view in hopes Scott would recognize him and be able to relax.

Scott continued to growl as Oz inched his head closer to the front of the cage. Eventually, the grows lessened into quiet snarls through his bared teeth. When Oz felt that the beast had calmed down enough, he slowly extended an open palm through the cage to allow Scott to give it a sniff.

He did so immediately. Pressing his snout against the palm and sniffing the hand.

“I’m still here Scott… I’m still here…”

After a few moments of getting used to the presence, Scott’s ears perked up and his tail began to wag. He let out a little yelp, sitting up to stare at Oz with a pair of dazzling eyes.

Oz’s face lit up upon realizing Scott recognized him. He quickly reached into his pocket and produced a small morsel of meat, “You’re a good boy! Good boy, Scott!” He gently tossed the snack into the cage and watched the werewolf devour it immediately.

_This feels so weird…_ Oz thought to himself with a sigh. Instead of slow dancing with his prom date, he was treating him like a pet by praising him for not biting his hand.

Speaking of Prom, he was curious about how it was going. If anybody questioned why the two were absent, Oz hoped his friends would be able to explain the situation well enough. Even if Oz wasn’t a huge fan of spending hours around all of his classmates as they ate and dance, Oz still felt bummed the full moon had to take place at this time.

Things were relatively calm for a few hours. Despite reverting to a primitive form, Scott still had some control and didn’t act completely like a canine animal. He was still able to play video games, watch movies, and he was even able to take a nap for a few moments so Oz could take a bathroom break. However, the second Scott noticed Oz was missing, he began howling and scratching at his cage in a panic. Oz barely had time to leap off the toilet and rush into the room to calm him down. Scott nearly lost it and almost tore apart the cage.

At some point, Oz changed out of his Prom clothes into something more comfortable. As he felt a pair of hungry eyes stare him down, Oz took off the rest of his prom outfit and borrowed a pair of shorts and one of Scott’s comfy hoodies.

Oz sat on the foot of Scott’s bed as the beast ripped through a chicken leg. The fear-entity sighed as he pulled out his phone, noting it was already close to 10:00. Prom was likely ending soon as monsters went off to prepare for After-prom parties.

Just as Oz checked the time, he noticed a text from Zoe.

_Heya. I heard about Scott… that sux :(_

_Yeah… bad timing. How’s prom?_

_TBH? Kinda lame. Some dragon who has beef with the coven crashed the place so they had to kill it which interrupted the cha-cha slide. Also, vera set up a monopoly on the chocolate fountain…_

Oz snickered. He was surprised the chocolate fountain was the ONLY thing Vera took advantage of monopolizing on this night.

_Dang. Well not much is happening here. Scott’s been good_

_Aww good!! Sorry u couldn’t make it but have fun hehehe!_

_Zoe. What does that mean?_

She replied with a GIF of a cat winking suggestively.

Oz threw his phone against the bed, leaned back, and stared at the ceiling.

After a few minutes, Oz spoke up: “Hey Scott…?”

He growled in response.

“I don’t know if you can understand me,” He sighed, “But I feel kinda sorry for you. This sucks. I don’t know how you’ve managed to do this all night _by yourself.”_

Scott poked his snout against the door of the cage, as if saying: _Then let me out so we can go eat deer and run naked through the woods. Duh!_

The two sat in silence for a few more moments. Oz was surprised at how calm Scott was so far. He liked to think it was his presence that put the werewolf at ease, but he supposed the amount of food he stored in there for him was playing a part in keeping the monster occupied.

As Oz laid on the bed, Scott chewed on a bone.

“Hey… can I say something crazy?” Oz asked. He knew he wasn’t going to get a response, so he just kept talking.

“I realized something. If I never met you, I honestly don’t know where I would be in life right now. Like… the best part of my day used to be sitting in that small little spot by the tree, but you changed all of that so quickly.” Oz leaned up on his elbows to look at Scott. He was clearly disinterested in Oz’s voice as he crunched on the remains of the bone.

“Okay… I guess I know where I’d be _right now_ if I hadn’t met you. I would be at Prom, having the time of my life with my friends, instead of sitting on your bed as you chew on a dead chicken. But you know what Scott…” He sighed, staring affectionately at the werewolf who slobbered on the bone, “I wouldn’t trade this moment for the world. If I had to give up these past few months just so I could have one night of Prom… I don’t think I’d do it.”

Scott’s ears perked up as he glanced at the fear entity sitting on his bed. He licked his nose and shook his tail happily at his boyfriend, letting him know that he appreciated his company.

_KABOOM._

The sound of a firework outside shook throughout the entire house.

Oz watched as the caged werewolf thrashed about, howling and whining. The loud noise clearly startled him enough to make him feel trapped and in danger. Before he could calm down, however, additional fireworks were set off, making loud crashing noises that startled the poor monster.

Realization struck Oz like a truck. He leaped off the bed and looked through the window curtains to take a look outside. He watched the night sky to see vibrant fireworks flash all over the place. They were nice to look at, but each explosion released a soundwave that made even Oz’s ears ring. He recalled Damien going around school last week, telling people he bought some extremely rare fireworks he would set off when prom was over. He claimed they were extra explosive, and they were probably strong enough to burn the whole city down (knowing Damien, he might actually do that).

These loud fireworks must have been from Damien, who was unknowingly terrorizing Scott. The beast continued to wail and slam its shoulders into the cage as an attempt to escape from the noise.

Oz had to act fast. He did everything he could to try and block out the sound. Oz knew Scott liked campfires, so he played a 10-hour YouTube video of peaceful campfire sounds and turned that up to max volume. He turned on the TV, letting a cooking show play that could hopefully distract Scott with the sights and sounds of food. These noises helped somewhat to block out the booming outside, but Scott was still clearly in distress. Oz knelt down by the cage and watch as the werewolf barred its fangs and growled; as if he were a wounded animal backed into a corner by a predator.

Oz leaned his head as close as he could to the cage without risk of getting it bit off.

“Scott! I’m right here. Nothing’s gonna happen.”

Whether Scott wasn’t understanding or didn’t believe him, he continued to shake and growl fearfully. The fireworks showed no signs of stopping, and Oz was running out of ideas on how to tame his partner.

He did have one last idea, but it was incredibly stupid and would likely get Oz killed.

But when looking at the terrified expression on Scott’s face, Oz didn’t hesitate to give his idea a try. He pulled out the key in his pocket and unlatched the lock.

Before Scott could leap out through the opening, Oz slid into the cage and closed it, putting himself directly in between Scott and the exit.

With a trembling hand, Oz touched the side of Scott’s cheek. The beast flinched at the contact, but at least he wasn’t mauling Oz to death; that was good news.

“I-I know… it’s scary…” Oz whispered as he gently stroked the beast’s cheek, “Trust me, I’m scared too buddy.”

Of course, Oz knew Scott was in way more distress; he could sense the fear emanating off him. Even though Oz felt incredibly nervous about Scott lashing out at him, he pushed through it and gave Scott the physical affection he needed to be put at ease.

After giving Scott time to be adjusted to the close contact, Oz leaned in, wrapping his arms around the beast and stroking his back. He shushed and soothed the werewolf.

Oz was surprised at how well it was working. Scott was still clearly trembling, but the growls eased down into quiet whimpers. It could have been Scott recognizing his partner’s touch and being comforted by it, but Oz knew all about the scared, hopeless feeling that the werewolf was going through. Oz knew that in times of panic, a gentle, inviting presence was key for calming down someone going through turmoil.

Scott leaned into Oz’s embrace, burying his head into the fear entity’s neck. Oz lost track of time as he continued to soothe the werewolf. He didn’t hold him down, but he kept a firm enough hold to hopefully distract Scott from the noise outside. After a few more minutes of soothing, Oz felt his lap grow heavy as the beast lowered his body, sinking into Oz’s lap.

As Scott slept, Oz gently stroked the werewolf’s head. To say Oz was completely at ease would be a lie. At any point, Scott could wake up, feel threatened, and attack Oz before he had a second to react. Even then, he pushed through his fear and didn’t move an inch from the spot. Using one arm, he reached for the blanket and threw it over his shoulders. He propped up the pillows against the side of the cage and leaned his head against it. Oz wasn’t in the most comfortable of positions, but it would have to do for now.

As the sounds of campfires, cooking shows, and fireworks surrounded him, Oz managed to join Scott in his slumber as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be the last chapter, but it ended up being a lot longer than I initially suspected. Next chapter will follow up directly after this! Thanks for reading my notes, hope you have a great day!


	6. It was Meant to be

Scott Howl hated werehangovers.

He could deal with normal hangovers, as he had a naturally high alcohol tolerance, but Werehangovers were an entirely different issue.

When a werewolf “wolfs out” from a full moon, they use up so much energy that when they revert back to their regular forms, they experience a few after effects from the experience. In specific, they feel tiredness, sore muscles, mood swings, and occasionally vomit up bones of certain prey that they swallowed whole.

However, when Scott woke up the morning after his transformation, he didn’t have any of these symptoms.

The only thing he _did_ feel was a hand gently stroking his hair.

Scott lazily lifted his head off of the lap he was resting on. He looked up to see a familiar, pure black face staring down at him with sleepy eyes.

“Hi.” Oz said softly, continuing to run his fingers through Scott’s hair.

Scott took a second to process his surroundings. He still wasn’t fully awake, but he questioned what Oz was doing in the cage with him. He wondered if anything happened last night, but judging from the fact that Oz was still fully clothed, he figured that couldn’t be it. Scott also noticed Oz’s phone and the remote for his TV somehow found themselves littered around with the various other objects in the cage. The TV was turned off, so Scott wondered if sometime throughout the night, Oz turned on a movie to watch or something along those lines.

Scott lifted his body off of the Oz’s lap and sat upright.

“Good morning.” Scott said with a stretch of his arms, “I don’t feel too sick! This is the easiest werehangover I’ve had yet.”

Oz yawned sleepily, “That’s nice… you slept a lot last night, so I doubt you used up much energy.”

“I did? How would you know unless you were up all night?”

“Because I was up all night.”

“…Oh.”

Oz briefly explained that he didn’t get a whole lot of sleep last night. Between the constricting size of the cage and the large werewolf body curled up into him, Oz woke up several times throughout the night in discomfort. When last night’s fireworks display eventually stopped, he was thankful he thought to bring the remote in the cage to turn off the TV. But even then, the quietness wasn’t enough to lull the fear monster into slumber.

“Why didn’t you just sleep in my bed? I like cuddles too but still… my bed would have been much more comfortable, bro.”

Oz hesitated to respond. He wasn’t sure telling Scott about the fireworks incident would be a good idea. He didn’t want Scott to feel guilty about his panic last night. Even though it obviously wasn’t the werewolf’s fault, Oz could imagine Scott feeling a little guilty for forcing him to console the werewolf the entire night.

When Oz shrugged his shoulders and yawned again, Scott chose not to worry about it anymore.

“You know what, bro?” Scott smiled and gave Oz a quick kiss on the forehead. “You took care of me, so now it’s my turn to take care of you! And step 1 of Scott’s guide to Taking-Care-Of-The-Bro is to take a nap! You need lots of rest if you want to get through the day, you know?”

Oz didn’t have quite enough time to process what Scott said before he leaned over him and pushed the cage door open. He scooped up Oz in his arms and crawled out of the cage together.

Scott stood up with Oz still in his arms and looked out the window. Through the window, he saw the sun was barely peeking out of the sky.

“Perfect! We have plenty of time to sleep in without losing too much of the day!”

“We?” Oz questioned.

“Of course, bro!” Scott grinned brightly, pulling back the blankets and laying Oz down on the bed. “I’d never leave you all by yourself. You know, even if we didn’t _actually_ go to Prom together, we’re still Prom dates! It’s, like, my Prom duty to stick by my Prom dates side. No matter what!”

Oz was about to question Scott’s unusual thought process when the werewolf jumped into bed behind him so he could spoon him. He pulled the blanket over them and nuzzled his chin into the top of his head.

“Okay! Nap time!”

Scott felt Oz vibrate gently as the fear monster chuckled. Oz knew by now that going along with Scott’s silliness was much easier than trying to fight him.

“Are you even tired, Scott?”

“Eh, not really!” The werewolf replied, “But if there’s one thing I know, it’s that if I push myself too hard during a werehangover, I might put my body into so much shock that I’ll die of severe paralysis. I’m pretty sure that’s how we lost Grandpa Howl”

Scott laughed off that statement as if it wasn’t as serious as it sounded, leaving Oz completely dumbfounded.

“Besides…” Scott said quietly, pressing his nose against the back of Oz’s head and sniffing in the scent of his lover. He didn’t have a natural scent, since he was made of fear, but he did have a nice smelling cologne that Scott was infatuated with.

“Being with you is the best cure for hangovers…”

-

After just an hour or so of napping, Scott Howl woke up to the sound of a gentle knock on his bedroom door.

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap._

At first, Scott just thought he was hearing things. He pressed his ear against the base of Oz’s head, letting himself fall into the trance of Oz’s soft snoring. He was happy to know Oz was already fast asleep, he could tell the poor fear-entity was exhausted.

_Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap._

There it was again. This time, a little louder. So loud in fact that it carried over the sound of Oz’s gentle breathing. Scott begrudgingly, yet carefully, got out from the covers and crawled out of bed. He dragged his feet to the door and cracked it open, peeking his head through the door.

He saw his grandma at the door. She held a coffee mug in her hand.

“Grandma!” Scott said in a hushed whisper. He opened the door all the way and took a step out of his bedroom, “How are you feeling!?”

“Fine, deer.” She replied with a smile, “I gather you two had a safe night?”

“We did! Oz is sleeping right now, and he didn’t really tell me how last night went but judging from the fact that I barely feel my werehangover, It must have been great!”  
  


“That’s great dear, now… can you tell me why all of my windows and doors are covered in silverware?” She motioned to the bathroom door down the upstairs hallway, which was lined with silver spoons.

“Oh yeah! I totally forgot! Oz bought silverware so he could cover all my escape routes.” Scott leaned against the doorframe, a dreamy look forming on his face, “He’s so good about planning ahead…”

Grandma Howl agreed with the statement, but then explained to Scott that it proved to be a problem. She told Scott that his cousins had come home from their night out on the hunt, but were currently crammed together on the porch, too afraid to walk through the door due to it being lined with a hefty line of sharp, silver knives.

“Your cousins have been whining out front for the past ten minutes, my dear. Since Oz is the only one here who can touch silver, he’s going to have to take down all of the utensils…”

Scott whipped his head around, looking at the peaceful Oz curled up in his bed. There was no way he was going to wake him up and ask him to clean up the defense mechanism he installed.

“U-Uhh…!” Scott stammered, “I’ll take care of it! I’ve got baseball gloves, I’ll just put those on and take them down!” Scott dashed back into his room (being careful not to wake up Oz) and put on two baseball gloves on either hand. It was a little hard to grab with them, and they were both right-handed, but they were made with a really thick leather, so Scott didn’t need to worry about getting contaminated by the silver. Scott prepared to race out of his room but was stopped by his grandma.

“Scott… what are my rules about running around naked in the house?”  
  


Scott looked down, remembering he was still in his underwear.

“Oops! Almost forgot!” Scott said sheepishly. He walked back into his room to throw on some comfortable clothes.

“Good boy.” Grandma Howl hummed before taking a sip of her coffee.

-

Slowly but surely, Scott removed the various silverware covering the windows and doors of the house. He started at the front door, carefully pulling off the silverware there so his cousins could finally come inside.

Whereas Scott was feeling well, his wolf pack had it pretty rough from the night before. Most of them looked ready to pass out, one had sunglasses on to block out the light, and other was affected by his werehangover so badly he kept throwing up bones and small animal carcasses every two minutes. When Scott cleared the doorway for them, he was nearly run over by his pack racing inside to take medicine, use the toilet, drink water, and do other self-care routines.

Scott continued to clean up. He put every piece of silver in a shoebox as he moved throughout the house. He was hoping Oz could find some use for the utensils, since him and his family obviously had no use for silver in their home. It didn’t take long for Scott to finish collecting every piece of silver in the house. He set the box down on the dining table to wipe his brow.

“All done! Can I have a treat now!?”

Grandma Howl threw him a bacon treat from the kitchen.

Suddenly, one of Scott’s cousins (the one who likes to stand in front of his pack) came rushing down the stairs, twirling a pair of car keys in his hands.

“Yo G-ma!” He called out, “We just stopped home to grab my keys. We’re gonna go get some breakfast at that one diner that bakes their pancakes with batter made from cow tongues.”  
  


“Oooh!” Scott gasped, “I LOVE those pancakes! Can I come? Can I come?”

His cousin squinted his brow, “Uh… sure. But what about your little boyfriend? Isn’t he sleeping?”

“That’s okay!” Scott replied, already drooling at the thought of breakfast, “We won’t take long! And I can bring him something back!”

Scott raced out of the front door, with his irritated cousin in tow. He ran over to the driveway and squeezed himself in the car along with his wolfpack. It was a tight fit that made a few sick members of the pack feel pretty nauseous, but the diner wasn’t too far so they could manage. The lead pack member got into the driver’s seat, started the car, and turned out of the driveway as the pack cheered about delicious pancakes.

The ride went smoothly. They had to stop a couple of times along the way because of the one wolf who kept throwing up dead rodents, but other than that there weren’t issues. Scott listened as his pack bragged about how their night went. They couldn’t remember all of the details, but they did remember ransacking a small village, wrestling bears in the woods, and playing flip cup but instead of flipping cups they flipped each other off. Scott wasn’t sure how flip cup could be played that way but decided not to think too hard about it.

Before they knew it, they were in the parking lot for the diner. A stampede of furry tails and howling raced inside the restaurant.

It was a small mom and pop restaurant owned by a couple of centaurs. The place was famous among local monsters due to the unique ingredients they put in their food. The wolf pack dove into a large booth, pushing and shoving each other as they rushed through the diner. Luckily, the place was relatively empty, and the wolf pack were regulars here, because their noisy behavior would likely get them kicked out otherwise.

A centaur waiter came over to take their order, and every member ordered the exact same thing; Pancakes with Cow Tongue. They immediately began to jeer and prattle to each other after the waiter left with their orders. As Scott happily interacted with his cousins, he heard the entrance to the diner slam open, and heard a familiar voice bellow in his direction.

“SCOTT HOWL!!!” Damien LaVey yelled as he busted through the diner door, Calculester followed silently behind him. “What a coincidence I see you here, you FLAKE! Where were you last night? Prom SUCKED without you! I had to do the Monster Mash all by myself, asshole!”

“I know bro, I’m sorry…” Scott frowned, “I didn’t go because of the full moon.”

“SO WHAT!?” Damien yelled as he slammed his hands down on their table, “Wolf Scott would have been AWESOME to have at Prom!”

Calculester walked up behind the fiery demon, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder, “Friend Damien, if Scott were to go to Prom during a full moon, the chances of him devouring other students would have been astronomically high.”

“Exactly! I see no issue with that!” Damien yelled in response.

“Here bro, how about I make it up to you then!” Scott patted a spot next to him, “I’ll buy you some cow tongue pancakes! They’re delicious!”

Damien’s mood immediately shifted from outraged to content, “Oh shit! Cow tongue!? Say no more! C’mon Cal, you’ll love them!”

“I’m afraid I can’t eat, Damien…”

“That’s quitter’s talk. Take a seat, Cal!”

The two joined Scott and his pack at the table. It was pretty crowded, but Damien elbowed one wolf enough times in the ribs to make some extra space. Unfortunately, said wolf was the one who had a tendency for throwing up, so he vomited a disembodied head on the table. It was gross, but hey, that’s the bus boy’s problem now.

“Man, I wish you were there though!” Damien groaned to his werewolf friend, “It was lame without you! But afterwards, I did set off fireworks across town! They were hella rad, and I doubt they caused any issues for anyone last night!”

Scott nodded, wishing he could have seen them for himself, “I agree! I could never think of a situation where fireworks could be a problem for anyone, ever!”

The centaur waiter came back with one tray of pancakes in his hands and another balanced on his back. He gave them their meals. He apparently heard Damien’s screaming from inside the kitchen, so extras were made for the two new patrons. He also gave a small to-go box to Scott since the werewolf ordered some take out for Oz.

“So anyway bro,” One member of the pack spoke up to Scott, “You never told us how your night was!”

Scott spoke after shoveling pancakes into his mouth, “I don’t really remember much, but when I woke up, Oz and I were both just sleeping peacefully in the cage. There was no blood anywhere! It was the first night I’ve ever woken up from a full moon without blood on me!”

“Oooh! Did you guys make babies!?”

Damien choked on his pancake upon hearing the question. Calculester raised a patient hand in interjection.

“I’m afraid Scott and Oz are incapable of mating though.”

“Nuh-uh!” Damien retorted after catching his breath. “My dad’s gave birth to me! It’s totally possible for two monsters of the same sex to have babies, you just need to put some effort into it!”

“That’s not what I meant, friend Damien. I mean that Oz, as a being made of fear, is incapable of having babies because he has no DNA to use for reproduction.”

“Wait, really!?” A wolf pack member groaned, “Damnit, I want to be an uncle already!”

Scott stared at his pancakes, deep in thought. Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in his head, “Wait… does that mean Oz can’t be my mate!?”

“Not necessarily.” Calculester replied, “From my understanding, a werewolf can have his mate as much more than means for reproduction. A mate can just be someone to rely on for romantic exposure.”

“Wait a second,” Damien scoffed, “You haven’t asked Oz to be your mate yet, have you?”

“Am I supposed to!? I-I dunno, I just kind of assumed we –”  
  


“DUDE! YOU GOTTA CLAIM YOUR MATE!” The lead wolf pack member yelled, “WHAT ARE WE DOING SITTING AROUND HERE FOR!? SCREW THE PANCAKES!! YOU GOTTA CLAIM YOUR MATE BEFORE HE GETS AWAY!!”

As Scott screamed at the sudden realization of possibly losing his Oz as his lifelong partner, Damien smacked his forehead.

“First of all!” Damien interjected, “Oz is not some sort of trophy for you to claim, he’s a living breathing monster! And second of all, I seriously doubt you need to worry about Oz leaving you. That dude is seriously in love with you –”

Damien looked up, noticing that Scott and his wolf pack were long gone, already heading out of the diner to drive Scott back home.

“I’M NOT PAYING FOR YOUR FOOD, ASSHOLES!!!”

Calculester silently poked a fork at the pancake on his plate; wishing he could eat it.

-

The wolf pack sped home, nearly running over a few pedestrians along the way. Of course, Scott knew he didn’t _actually_ have to worry about Oz leaving him, but the wailing and screaming of his wolf pack telling him to “do what must be done” made Scott incredibly nervous. Due to the high speeds they were moving at, the vomiting werewolf was struggling severely with motion sickness. He kept throwing up in the car.

Fortunately for Scott, his wolf pack formed a protective barrier around him to keep any throw up from hitting him. Even if Scott’s cousins could be pretty rude and bigoted, they were still family, and they did everything they could to keep Scott as presentable as possible before proposing to his partner.

Scott’s cousin made a hard U-turn into the driveway, nearly flipping over the car in the process. Scott pushed the car door open, did a tuck and roll, and sprinted through the front door.

In a flash of fur, he raced up the stairs and into his bedroom, speeding in and slamming his body against the door to close it.

Oz was in the middle of folding up his prom clothes when the werewolf rushed in.

“OZ!” Scott yelled.

“...Hi?” Oz asked worriedly, “I heard you went to get breakfast. How was it…?”

“Good! I got you some take out, but I accidentally ate it in the car home.”

“Oh? That’s okay –"

“OZ I NEED TO TALK TO YOU!”

Oz gave Scott a strange look, but knew that when Scott panicked like this, it was just because he had something on his mind for more than ten minutes and he needed to let it out. He took a seat on the edge of Scott’s bed and patted the spot next to him.

“Okay bro. I’m just gonna say it. Because if I try to dance around it I won’t say it and then it will take too long and I hate having things on my mind.

Oz nodded silently, preparing himself for whatever could come out of Scott’s mouth.

“WILL YOU BE MY MATE!?”

Oz jumped back, nearly falling off of the bed.

“W-WHAT!?”

Scott shook his hands in front of him. “I-I mean not like _mate-_ mate! I don’t care if we can’t have kids! Hell, I don’t care if we even adopt kids! But I still want you to be my mate!”

“S-Scott!” Oz stammered, “We’ve been together for like… four mouth! This is serious stuff, you know?”

“I know! But if I don’t do it now then you might get taken away by someone else!”

“S-Scott!” Oz groaned, “I can’t believe you would think that! And where is all of this coming from?”

“Well, it’s not something I’ve thought about much, but my cousins kept telling me I should! I’m sorry bro! Peer pressure is my greatest weakness!”

Oz sighed, “Scott… when are you going to realize your cousins are the worst at giving advice?”

“W-Wait… does that mean you don’t want to be my mate…?” Scott flinched. He suddenly felt like a huge idiot, letting his pack persuade him into rushing things like things.

“N-No I –" Oz gasped. He took a breath and leaned over to place a hand over the distressed werewolf. “I-I mean… I don’t want to be your mate _yet._ We… we still have so much life left to live, Scott! I know both of us are practically immortal but… we’re still in high school, you know?”

“W-What about marriage then!? Would you ever marry me?” Scott asked with puppy dog eyes.

Oz chuckled softly. Reaching up to throw his arms around his werewolf.

“Of course, I would marry you.” Oz said softly, “But let’s just be you and I first. There’s still so much I want to learn about you before that stuff… so…”

Scott frowned, burying his face into Oz’s neck, “O-Oh…”

Oz pulled back his head, pressing his forehead against Scott’s. “I’m happy to know that’s how you feel, though. I-I love you… you know, that right?”

Scott smiled softly, “Yeah… I know. I love you too.”

He leaned his face in to give Oz a kiss. Scott was actually relieved to get that answer from Oz, even if it did scare him at first. He was still just a pup, really. He had so many things to learn about himself before committing to a mate or a spouse.

Even then, there was one thing that Scott knew, deep in his heart. The fear monster who he loved was by his side, ready and willing to share his life with him. There was a little corner in Scott’s heart ready to be filled in by Oz. 

Scott Howl knew that it was meant to be.

And the best part was they had plenty of time to share together before then.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I never expected to get as much feedback as I did for my first ao3 story, so I really appreciate it. When I first played Monster Prom, Oz was my go-to character and Scott was the first choice for who I romanced in the game. 
> 
> These two will always have a special place in my heart so I'm glad my first story for the two could be shared with others!


End file.
